Blockchain based secure Ownership Transfer Protocol for smart objects in the Internet of Things

Abstract

Secure digital ownership transfer is critical for smart objects within the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem. This paper presents the Ownership Transfer Protocol (OTP), which leverages Physically Unclonable Function (PUF) and blockchain technology to ensure the secure transfer of ownership for smart objects in the IoT. The proposed protocol can securely track and trace smart objects during their movement in the IoT supply chain. Unlike the traditional Ownership Transfer (OT) architecture, the proposed architecture does not require a Trusted Third Party (TTP) and can support Partial Ownership Transfer (POT). The innovative use of immutable blockchain architecture enabled the proposed protocol to effectively support distributed environments and authenticate both the device and involved parties. The proposed protocol is evaluated for its robustness against common attacks outlined in this paper and implemented using the Ethereum blockchain. The testbed results on Ethereum confirm the optimal gas consumption of the proposed model. Furthermore, utilizing the security claim verification tool, Scyther, the experiment validates the security claim regarding the communication between the parties involved in the proposed protocol's OT process. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.