Realizing Open and Decentralized Marketplace for Exchanging Data of Expected IoT Behaviors

TL;DR

This work addresses secure IoT device risk management by proposing an open, decentralized marketplace for exchanging Manufacturer Usage Description (MUD) data. It implements a five-function workflow on Ethereum (request, offer, select, share, rate) and uses IPFS to store MUD content off-chain, preserving on-chain immutability and reducing costs. A private-chain prototype demonstrates feasibility and analyzes gas costs, showing that a complete MUD data exchange can cost under $100. By enabling open participation from manufacturers, researchers, and operators, the approach aims to improve scalability and transparency in IoT security data sharing.

Abstract

With rising concerns about the security of IoT devices, network operators need better ways to handle potential risks. Luckily, IoT devices show consistent patterns in how they communicate. But despite previous efforts, it remains unclear how knowledge of these patterns can be made available. As data marketplaces become popular in different domains, this paper1 proposes creating a special marketplace focused on IoT cybersecurity. The goal is to openly share knowledge about IoT devices' behavior, using structured data formats like Manufacturer Usage Description (MUD) files. To make this work, we employ technologies like blockchain and smart contracts to build a practical and secure foundation for sharing and accessing important information about how IoT devices should behave on the network. Our contributions are two-fold. (1) We identify the essential features of an effective marketplace for sharing data related to the expected behaviors of IoT devices. We develop a smart contract on the Ethereum blockchain with five concrete functions; and, (2) We implement a prototype of our marketplace in a private chain environment-our codes are publicly released. We demonstrate how effectively our marketplace functions through experiments involving MUD files from consumer IoT devices. Our marketplace enables suppliers and consumers to share MUD data on the Ethereum blockchain for under a hundred dollars, promoting accessibility and participation.

Figures (4)

• Figure 1: System architecture of the data marketplace for exchanging IoT MUD data.
• Figure 2: Sequence of transactions (events) between consumer and supplier for exchanging data of IoT expected behaviors (MUD file).
• Figure 3: Five concrete functions facilitate blockchain data exchange between consumers and suppliers.
• Figure 4: Transactions made in the scenario BS04.