Securing the Internet of Things: A Comparative Study on Integrating Access Control with Distributed Ledger Technology

Internet of Things (IoT) technology is increasingly prevalent across various sectors, including the military and healthcare. IoT devices play a pivotal role in collecting and analyzing crucial data while executing assigned tasks. Given the sensitive nature of this data, access control in IoT is crucial for data protection, and regulating the accessibility of data, applications, and resources. Yet, conventional centralized access control mechanisms are not well-suited to the dynamic IoT environment. The decentralized and distributed nature of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) presents a promising solution due to its high degree of transparency. This paper investigates various DLT-based access control models, presenting their distribution levels based on access control functional points and evaluating their capabilities using a predefined set of criteria. Upon defining a set of criteria for assessing DLT-based access control models within the IoT, it was observed that only two publications can be classified as highly distributed based on functional points. Furthermore, the assessment revealed that no model possesses both a highly distributed architecture and a highly distributed functional point distribution level simultaneously. This highlights the need for further development of distributed, scalable, and flexible access control models that align with the characteristics of the Internet of Things. This may involve integrating additional functional points into the chain and implementing smart contracts.