Reducing the IoT security gap with a microservice architecture based on TLS and OAuth2

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Diego Ordonez-Camacho https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8390-634X

Abstract

The Internet of Things has emerged as one of the most promising trends today. The speed of its adoption, however, has caused certain gaps. Amongst the most critical there is the one related with the security of the systems involved. This project addressed the security problem in a broad way but focusing on smart-home environments, where the use of devices with widely heterogeneous technologies and multiple services, generates problems with authentication and with the confidentiality of the data, if the network is compromised. To tackle these problems, state-of-the-art technologies such as OAuth2 and TLS, among others, were put together, along with an architectural methodology of lightly coupled microservices. As a result, a secure and broad range IoT architecture was built, backed up and validated by a reference implementation. The division into functional layers enables both fixed and mobile devices and sensors, to get connected into the system transparently and fluently. The security scheme structured in three incremental levels enables a better device integration, at the level that best adapts to its computing resources and the type of information it shares. The results show the flexibility of the solution and the robustness and novelty of the security scheme presented.