Exploiting Emercoin Blockchain and Trusted Computing for IoT Scenarios: A Practical Approach

Traditional Public Key Infrastructures (PKIs) seem not adequate for some Internet of Things (IoT) environments asking for fast, flexible, and secure solutions. Alternatively, IoT devices could generate asymmetric key pairs on their own, and store the relative public keys or X.509 certificates into a blockchain, e.g., Emercoin. Nevertheless, in some contexts, reliable device identification is still required. We extended an Emercoin-based decentralized PKI solution for IoT scenarios, by integrating the device's identification with a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 2.0 to a specific trusted node in an IoT network named Device Manager (DM). Through experimental tests performed with a TPM 2.0-equipped Raspberry Pi 4 device, we evaluated the time spent registering the IoT devices into the blockchain, or establishing secure (TLS) channels. Even though the Emercoin-based TLS handshake time is higher than the standard one, the proposed solution remains a viable alternative in scenarios requiring flexibility and device identification.