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1. Key parameters linking cyber-physical trust anchors with embedded internet of things systems

   https://doi.org/10.3389/frcmn.2023.1096841  

   Maasberg, Michele; Butler, Leslie G.; Taylor, Ian (November 2023, Frontiers in Communications and Networks)

   Integration of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the automotive industry has brought benefits as well as security challenges. Significant benefits include enhanced passenger safety and more comprehensive vehicle performance diagnostics. However, current onboard and remote vehicle diagnostics do not include the ability to detect counterfeit parts. A method is needed to verify authentic parts along the automotive supply chain from manufacture through installation and to coordinate part authentication with a secure database. In this study, we develop an architecture for anti-counterfeiting in automotive supply chains. The core of the architecture consists of a cyber-physical trust anchor and authentication mechanisms connected to blockchain-based tracking processes with cloud storage. The key parameters for linking a cyber-physical trust anchor in embedded IoT include identifiers (i.e., serial numbers, special features, hashes), authentication algorithms, blockchain, and sensors. A use case was provided by a two-year long implementation of simple trust anchors and tracking for a coffee supply chain which suggests a low-cost part authentication strategy could be successfully applied to vehicles. The challenge is authenticating parts not normally connected to main vehicle communication networks. Therefore, we advance the coffee bean model with an acoustical sensor to differentiate between authentic and counterfeit tires onboard the vehicle. The workload of secure supply chain development can be shared with the development of the connected autonomous vehicle networks, as the fleet performance is degraded by vehicles with questionable replacement parts of uncertain reliability. 

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2. Trust in the Context of Blockchain Applications

   https://doi.org/10.1109/BCCA55292.2022.9922068  

   You, Shengwei; Radivojevic, Kristina; Nabrzyski, Jarek; Brenner, Paul (September 2022, IEEE)

   Measuring trust in different Blockchain application contexts is challenging. There is a gap between building an accountable system with Blockchain and measuring the actual trust enhancement. This paper reviews trust factors in different Blockchain application contexts. We propose a trust assessment model for accountable trust factor collection while accounting for both quantitative and qualitative aspects of trust assessment. Our goal is to help users determine the trustworthiness of an entity by analyzing trust factors collected from intermediaries during business transactions. We use security and incentive assumptions to enhance the reliability of trust assessment data on Blockchain. 

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3. A Blockchain-based Traceability System for Waste Management in Smart Cities

   Gopalakrishnan, Praveen Kumare; Hall, John; Behdad, Sara (August 2020, the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE 2020, August 16 – 19, 2020, St. Louis, MO)

   Waste tracking is becoming an important concern for developed countries as well as developing regions, where municipalities aim to assure proper waste management considering environmental and economic objectives. Waste tracking is important not only for a transparent reporting system compatible with environmental regulations but also for economically viable waste collection and recovery solutions. In this paper, a waste tracking system based on the blockchain technology is introduced where different entities involved in the system will be able to retrieve required data from the platform and decide on their level of contributions. The conventional technologies do not provide a sufficient level of transparency and coordination among different entities. With the introduction of blockchain as a tamper-proof technology, municipalities can enhance the efficiency of their waste management efforts. The proposed blockchain technology can connect proper stakeholders towards collaboration and sharing information. The concept of a smart contract for waste management is discussed and further, a decision-making framework is developed to guide users of the system select proper services available to them, depending on the level of data sharing, cost, reliability, and the security level that they expect from the system. 

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4. Secure Architecture for Inter-Healthcare Electronic Health Records Exchange

   https://doi.org/10.1109/IEMTRONICS51293.2020.9216336  

   Ajayi, Oluwaseyi; Abouali, Meryem; Saadawi, Tarek (September 2020, IEEE International IOT, Electronics and Mechatronics Conference (IEMTRONICS))

   null (Ed.)

   The increase in cyberattacks against the healthcare system, notably Electronic Health Records (EHRs) breaches, has cost the healthcare providers more in recent years. This situation is predicted to increase in the coming years as the healthcare systems are proposing a consortium EHRs repository. Due to this reason, it is crucial to deploy solutions that can ensure the security of shared health records. More specifically, maintaining the integrity and consistency of shared EHRs becomes pertinent. In this on-going research, we propose a blockchain-based solution that facilitates a scalable and secured inter-healthcare EHRs exchange. These healthcare systems maintain their records on individual private blockchain networks, and the blockchains interact to exchange patient health history based on request. The proposed solution verifies the integrity and consistency of requests and replies from other healthcare systems. It presents them in a standard format that can be easily understood by different healthcare nodes. The verification steps guard against malicious activities on both stored and in transit EHRs from insider and outsider threat actors. We evaluate the security analysis against frequently encounter outsider and insider threats within a healthcare system. The preliminary result shows that the architecture can detect and prevent threat actors from uploading compromising EHRs into the network and prevents unauthorized retrieval of patient's information. 

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5. PUFchain 3.0: Hardware-Assisted Distributed Ledger for Robust Authentication in Healthcare Cyber–Physical Systems

   https://doi.org/10.3390/s24030938  

   Bathalapalli, Venkata K.; Mohanty, Saraju P.; Kougianos, Elias; Iyer, Vasanth; Rout, Bibhudutta (February 2024, Sensors)

   This article presents a novel hardware-assisted distributed ledger-based solution for simultaneous device and data security in smart healthcare. This article presents a novel architecture that integrates PUF, blockchain, and Tangle for Security-by-Design (SbD) of healthcare cyber–physical systems (H-CPSs). Healthcare systems around the world have undergone massive technological transformation and have seen growing adoption with the advancement of Internet-of-Medical Things (IoMT). The technological transformation of healthcare systems to telemedicine, e-health, connected health, and remote health is being made possible with the sophisticated integration of IoMT with machine learning, big data, artificial intelligence (AI), and other technologies. As healthcare systems are becoming more accessible and advanced, security and privacy have become pivotal for the smooth integration and functioning of various systems in H-CPSs. In this work, we present a novel approach that integrates PUF with IOTA Tangle and blockchain and works by storing the PUF keys of a patient’s Body Area Network (BAN) inside blockchain to access, store, and share globally. Each patient has a network of smart wearables and a gateway to obtain the physiological sensor data securely. To facilitate communication among various stakeholders in healthcare systems, IOTA Tangle’s Masked Authentication Messaging (MAM) communication protocol has been used, which securely enables patients to communicate, share, and store data on Tangle. The MAM channel works in the restricted mode in the proposed architecture, which can be accessed using the patient’s gateway PUF key. Furthermore, the successful verification of PUF enables patients to securely send and share physiological sensor data from various wearable and implantable medical devices embedded with PUF. Finally, healthcare system entities like physicians, hospital admin networks, and remote monitoring systems can securely establish communication with patients using MAM and retrieve the patient’s BAN PUF keys from the blockchain securely. Our experimental analysis shows that the proposed approach successfully integrates three security primitives, PUF, blockchain, and Tangle, providing decentralized access control and security in H-CPS with minimal energy requirements, data storage, and response time. 

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