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Blockchain-Based Secure Firmware Update Mechanisms for IoT Devices: A Comprehensive Review
Kamran Mustafa
Abstract:
Over the years, the Internet of Things (IoT) has been growing exponentially, which has resulted in the massive use of connected devices in different fields, such as healthcare, industrial systems, smart cities and critical infrastructure. To protect the security, functionality and efficiency of these devices, firmware updates are necessary. Yet, the conventional firmware upgrade systems with centralized structure have a set of security threats, including integrity attacks, unauthorized access and scalability. The blockchain technology is a decentralized, tamper-proof and transparent method of securing firmware updates. The paper will provide a survey of the known blockchain-based systems for secure update of firmware in the Internet of Things. We examined 36 scholarly articles, their proposed architectures, consensus mechanisms, security features, performance measures and limitations they may possess. Moreover, we have also found research gaps and proposed future research to improve blockchain-based firmware update processes.
Keywords:
Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), Firmware Updates, Security, Decentralization, Scalability, Consensus Mechanisms.
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