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23 pages, 531 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Design and Implementation of Virtual Security Function Based on Multiple Enclaves

by Juan Wang, Yang Yu, Yi Li, Chengyang Fan and Shirong Hao

Future Internet 2021, 13(1), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi13010012 - 6 Jan 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3151

Abstract

Network function virtualization (NFV) provides flexible and scalable network function for the emerging platform, such as the cloud computing, edge computing, and IoT platforms, while it faces more security challenges, such as tampering with network policies and leaking sensitive processing states, due to [...] Read more.

Network function virtualization (NFV) provides flexible and scalable network function for the emerging platform, such as the cloud computing, edge computing, and IoT platforms, while it faces more security challenges, such as tampering with network policies and leaking sensitive processing states, due to running in a shared open environment and lacking the protection of proprietary hardware. Currently, Intel^® Software Guard Extensions (SGX) provides a promising way to build a secure and trusted VNF (virtual network function) by isolating VNF or sensitive data into an enclave. However, directly placing multiple VNFs in a single enclave will lose the scalability advantage of NFV. This paper combines SGX and click technology to design the virtual security function architecture based on multiple enclaves. In our design, the sensitive modules of a VNF are put into different enclaves and communicate by local attestation. The system can freely combine these modules according to user requirements, and increase the scalability of the system while protecting its running state security. In addition, we design a new hot-swapping scheme to enable the system to dynamically modify the configuration function at runtime, so that the original VNFs do not need to stop when the function of VNFs is modified. We implement an IDS (intrusion detection system) based on our architecture to verify the feasibility of our system and evaluate its performance. The results show that the overhead introduced by the system architecture is within an acceptable range. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers for Future Internet—Internet of Things Section)

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21 pages, 2423 KiB

Open AccessArticle

ndnIoT-FC: IoT Devices as First-Class Traffic in Name Data Networks

by Luís Gameiro, Carlos Senna and Miguel Luís

Future Internet 2020, 12(11), 207; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi12110207 - 21 Nov 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3047

Abstract

In recent years we have been assisting a radical change in the way devices are connected to the Internet. In this new scope, the traditional TCP/IP host-centric network fails in large-scale mobile wireless distributed environments, such as IoT scenarios, due to node mobility, [...] Read more.

In recent years we have been assisting a radical change in the way devices are connected to the Internet. In this new scope, the traditional TCP/IP host-centric network fails in large-scale mobile wireless distributed environments, such as IoT scenarios, due to node mobility, dynamic topologies and intermittent connectivity, and the Information-Centric Networking (ICN) paradigm has been considered the most promising candidate to overcome the drawbacks of host-centric architectures. Despite bringing efficient solutions for content distribution, the basic ICN operating principle, where content must always be associated with an interest, has serious restrictions in IoT environments in relation to scale, performance, and naming, among others. To address such drawbacks, we are presenting ndnIoT-FC, an NDN-based architecture that respects the ICN rules but offers special treatment for IoT traffic. It combines efficient hybrid naming with strategies to minimize the number of interests and uses caching strategies that virtually eliminates copies of IoT data from intermediate nodes. The ndnIoT-FC makes available new NDN-based application-to-application protocol to implement a signature model operation and tools to manage its life cycle, following a publisher-subscriber scheme. To demonstrate the versatility of the proposed architecture, we show the results of the efficient gathering of environmental information in a simulation environment considering different and distinct use cases. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers for Future Internet—Internet of Things Section)

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23 pages, 822 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Internet of Things (IoT) Acceptance Model. Assessing Consumer’s Behavior toward IoT Products and Applications

by Maria Tsourela and Dafni-Maria Nerantzaki

Future Internet 2020, 12(11), 191; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi12110191 - 3 Nov 2020

Cited by 46 | Viewed by 7163

Abstract

A common managerial and theoretical concern is to know how individuals perceive Internet of Things (IoT) products and applications and how to accelerate adoption of them. The purpose of the current study is to answer, “What are the factors that define behavioral intention [...] Read more.

A common managerial and theoretical concern is to know how individuals perceive Internet of Things (IoT) products and applications and how to accelerate adoption of them. The purpose of the current study is to answer, “What are the factors that define behavioral intention to adopt IoT products and applications among individuals?” An IoT adoption model was developed and tested, incorporating pull factors from two different information impact sources: technical and psychological. This study employs statistical structural equation modeling (SEM) in order to examine the conceptual IoT acceptance model. It is demonstrated that facilitated appropriation, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, as mediators, significantly influence consumers’ attitude and behavioral intention towards IoT products and applications. User character, cyber resilience, cognitive instrumentals, social influence and trust, all with different significance rates, exhibited an indirect effect, through the three mediators. The IoT acceptance model (IoTAM) upgrades current knowledge on consumers’ behavioral intention and equips practitioners with the knowledge needed to create successful integrated marketing tactics and communication strategies. It provides a solid base for examining multirooted models for the acceptance of newly formed technologies, as it bridges the discontinuity in migrating from information and communication technologies (ICTs) to IoT adoption studies, causing distortions to societies’ abilities to make informed decisions about IoT adoption and use. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers for Future Internet—Internet of Things Section)

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31 pages, 2263 KiB

Open AccessArticle

NFV-Enabled Efficient Renewable and Non-Renewable Energy Management: Requirements and Algorithms

by Christian Tipantuña and Xavier Hesselbach

Future Internet 2020, 12(10), 171; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi12100171 - 14 Oct 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3383

Abstract

The increasing worldwide energy demand, the CO₂ emissions generated due to the production and use of energy, climate change, and the depletion of natural resources are important concerns that require new solutions for energy generation and management. In order to ensure energy [...] Read more.

The increasing worldwide energy demand, the CO₂ emissions generated due to the production and use of energy, climate change, and the depletion of natural resources are important concerns that require new solutions for energy generation and management. In order to ensure energy sustainability, measures, including the use of renewable energy sources, the deployment of adaptive energy consumption schemes, and consumer participation, are currently envisioned as feasible alternatives. Accordingly, this paper presents the requirements and algorithmic solutions for efficient management of energy consumption, which aims to optimize the use of available energy, whether or not it is 100% renewable, by minimizing the waste of energy. The proposal works within a Demand-Response environment, uses Network Functions Virtualization as an enabling technology, and leverages the massive connectivity of the Internet of Things provided by modern communications technologies. The energy consumption optimization problem is formulated as an Integer Linear Program. It is optimally solved while using a brute-force search strategy, defined as OptTs, to detect all concerns that are related to the problem. Given the

NP

-hard nature of the problem and the non-polynomial complexity of OptTs, some heuristic solutions are analyzed. Subsequently, a heuristic strategy, described as FastTs based on a pre-partitioning method, is implemented. The simulation results validate our proposed energy management solution. Exact and heuristic strategies, when deployed in the Network Functions Virtualization domain, demonstrate improvements in the way that energy is consumed, thereby offering an increase in service processing. The evaluation results also show that FastTs produces high-quality solutions that are close to those of OptTs while executing 230×–5000× faster. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers for Future Internet—Internet of Things Section)

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15 pages, 3080 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Digital Twin Conceptual Model within the Context of Internet of Things

by A. R. Al-Ali, Ragini Gupta, Tasneem Zaman Batool, Taha Landolsi, Fadi Aloul and Ahmad Al Nabulsi

Future Internet 2020, 12(10), 163; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi12100163 - 26 Sep 2020

Cited by 74 | Viewed by 10659

Abstract

As the Internet of Things (IoT) is gaining ground and becoming increasingly popular in smart city applications such as smart energy, smart buildings, smart factories, smart transportation, smart farming, and smart healthcare, the digital twin concept is evolving as complementary to its counter [...] Read more.

As the Internet of Things (IoT) is gaining ground and becoming increasingly popular in smart city applications such as smart energy, smart buildings, smart factories, smart transportation, smart farming, and smart healthcare, the digital twin concept is evolving as complementary to its counter physical part. While an object is on the move, its operational and surrounding environmental parameters are collected by an edge computing device for local decision. A virtual replica of such object (digital twin) is based in the cloud computing platform and hosts the real-time physical object data, 2D and 3D models, historical data, and bill of materials (BOM) for further processing, analytics, and visualization. This paper proposes an end-to-end digital twin conceptual model that represents its complementary physical object from the ground to the cloud. The paper presents the proposed digital twin model’s multi-layers, namely, physical, communication, virtual space, data analytic and visualization, and application as well as the overlapping security layer. The hardware and software technologies that are used in building such a model will be explained in detail. A use case will be presented to show how the layers collect, exchange, and process the physical object data from the ground to the cloud. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers for Future Internet—Internet of Things Section)

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16 pages, 2647 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Internet of Things Model for Improving Process Management on University Campus

by William Villegas-Ch, Xavier Palacios-Pacheco and Milton Román-Cañizares

Future Internet 2020, 12(10), 162; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi12100162 - 25 Sep 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4103

Abstract

Currently, there are several emerging technologies that seek to improve quality of life. To achieve this, it is important to establish the various technologies’ fields of action and to determine which technology meets the conditions established by the environment in which it is [...] Read more.

Currently, there are several emerging technologies that seek to improve quality of life. To achieve this, it is important to establish the various technologies’ fields of action and to determine which technology meets the conditions established by the environment in which it is designed to operate in order to satisfy the needs of society. One type of environment is the university campus. This particular environment is conducive to the development and testing of technological innovations that might later be replicated in larger environments such as smart cities. The technology that has experienced the greatest development and introduction of applications is the Internet of Things. The wide variety of available devices and the wide reach of the Internet have become ideal parameters for the application of the Internet of Things in areas that previously required the work of people. The Internet of Things is seen as an assistant to, or a substitute for, processes that are generally routine and which require the effort of one or more people. This work focuses specifically on processes to improve administrative management in a university through the use of the Internet of Things. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers for Future Internet—Internet of Things Section)

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15 pages, 6047 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enabling the Secure Use of Dynamic Identity for the Internet of Things—Using the Secure Remote Update Protocol (SRUP)

by Andrew John Poulter, Steven J. Ossont and Simon J. Cox

Future Internet 2020, 12(8), 138; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi12080138 - 18 Aug 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3367

Abstract

This paper examines dynamic identity, as it pertains to the Internet of Things (IoT), and explores the practical implementation of a mitigation technique for some of the key weaknesses of a conventional dynamic identity model. This paper explores human-centric and machine-based observer approaches [...] Read more.

This paper examines dynamic identity, as it pertains to the Internet of Things (IoT), and explores the practical implementation of a mitigation technique for some of the key weaknesses of a conventional dynamic identity model. This paper explores human-centric and machine-based observer approaches for confirming device identity, permitting automated identity confirmation for deployed systems. It also assesses the advantages of dynamic identity in the context of identity revocation permitting secure change of ownership for IoT devices. The paper explores use-cases for human and machine-based observation for authentication of device identity when devices join a Command and Control(C2) network, and considers the relative merits for these two approaches for different types of system. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers for Future Internet—Internet of Things Section)

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21 pages, 1463 KiB

Open AccessReview

Blockchain-Enabled Edge Intelligence for IoT: Background, Emerging Trends and Open Issues

by Yao Du, Zehua Wang and Victor C. M. Leung

Future Internet 2021, 13(2), 48; https://doi.org/10.3390/fi13020048 - 17 Feb 2021

Cited by 33 | Viewed by 7442

Abstract

Blockchain, a distributed ledger technology (DLT), refers to a list of records with consecutive time stamps. This decentralization technology has become a powerful model to establish trust among trustless entities, in a verifiable manner. Motivated by the recent advancement of multi-access edge computing [...] Read more.

Blockchain, a distributed ledger technology (DLT), refers to a list of records with consecutive time stamps. This decentralization technology has become a powerful model to establish trust among trustless entities, in a verifiable manner. Motivated by the recent advancement of multi-access edge computing (MEC) and artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain-enabled edge intelligence has become an emerging technology for the Internet of Things (IoT). We review how blockchain-enabled edge intelligence works in the IoT domain, identify the emerging trends, and suggest open issues for further research. To be specific: (1) we first offer some basic knowledge of DLT, MEC, and AI; (2) a comprehensive review of current peer-reviewed literature is given to identify emerging trends in this research area; and (3) we discuss some open issues and research gaps for future investigations. We expect that blockchain-enabled edge intelligence will become an important enabler of future IoT, providing trust and intelligence to satisfy the sophisticated needs of industries and society. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers for Future Internet—Internet of Things Section)

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