TFCB-Fog: Trust Framework for Cluster-based Fog Computing Environments

Decentralized fog computing facilitates real-time interactions, reduces latency, supports heterogeneity, and enables network services between the Internet of Things (IoT) layer and cloud data centers. A major challenge within the fog layer is the identification of reliable fog nodes. In this context, an adaptive, hybrid, scalable, and low-latency trust framework is necessary for trustworthy node communication between fog nodes. This paper presents a trust framework for cluster-based fog computing environments (TFCB-Fog). TFCB-Fog integrates various features such as direct, indirect, and composed trust; context trust; cluster memberships (recommenders); weighted trust; initial trust; and adaptive trust evaluation. Performance evaluation results prove that TFCB-Fog effectively utilizes trust calculations to counter attacks and achieve satisfactory results in isolating malicious fog nodes within fog computing environments.