Applications of Blockchain

In recent years, as researchers have acknowledged the potential impact of block- chain, going beyond just cryptocurrency, there has been a surge in investment and excitement from all spheres of industry. Many countries have taken the initiative to adopt blockchain. Dubai has set up smart city initiatives. Since 2012, Estonia has adopted distributed ledger technology in many sectors, such as health care, legal services, and personal information management. The implementation of blockchain technology can potentially circumvent existing obsolete technologies and provide new permanent solutions [67]. Some application scenarios are as follows.

Smart Power Utilization

Fossil fuels provide 48 percent of the world's electrical energy, and their increasing scarcity brings about significant problems. Blockchain has been proposed to solve some of these problems, in terms of smart energy management [68]. The use of blockchain can potentially impact the business model and daily operation of

TABLE 8.2

loT Security Issue Analysis and Blockchain Solutions

Security, Issues	Attack, Strategy	Effects	Affected, Layer	Blockchain, Solution
Ensure data privacy and integrity [54.58,59]	Nodes attacked physically, malicious code insertion	DoS attack, eavesdropping, MITM. privacy breach.	All four layers	A decentralized P2P network, cryptographic algorithms, and hashing techniques. Smart contracts for transaction validation
Authentication and authorization (users, devices, data) [60)	Physical attack, communication attack, software attack.	DoS attack, eavesdropping, privacy violation, unauthorized access	All four layers	Unique blockchain identifier, strong consensus algorithms, tamper-proof distributed ledger, smart contracts
Insecure devices [61]	Physical attack, communication attack	DoS attack, privacy violation	Perception layer	Unique identification credentials, no intermediary involved, smart contracts
Sybil attacks [62]	Communication attack	DoS attack, privacy violation, identity manipulation, spamming, resource exhaustion	Network layer	PoW and PoS significantly increase the cost of pseudonymous node creation
Software attack (malware and ransomware) [63]	Software attack	Zero-day attack. DoS attack, buffer overflow, data theft, privacy violation	Application layer	Decentralized digital ledger, encrypted transactions, no single point of failure
RPL Routing attack [64.65]	Communication attack	Eavesdropping, man-in-the-middle attack, single point of failure	Network layer	Decentralized distributed nodes, encrypted data packets, reduces network overhead
Sinkhole and wormhole attack [66]	Communication attack	DoS attack, energy consumption, privacy violation, dropped/altered routing information	Network layer	Decentralized distributed ledger, cryptographic techniques-hashing and digital signature
Malicious code injection [49]	Nodes attacked physically, malicious code insertion	Data theft, privacy violation, network disruption	Perception layer, network layer, application layer	Cryptographic device identifiers, smart contracts for code authentication
Congestion/ Jamming [49]	Physical attack	DoS attack, network disruption	Perception layer	Decentralized distributed ledger, cryptographic consensus algorithm (PoW)

(Continued)

TABLE 8.2 (Continued)

loT Security Issue Analysis and Blockchain Solutions

Security, Issues	Attack, Strategy	Effects	Affected, Layer	Blockchain, Solution
Spoofing attack [49]	Communication attack, software attack	DoS attack, man-in-the middle attack, privacy violation, network disruption	Perception. network and application layers	Decentralized network, cryptographic digital signature, smart contracts
Deviation and disruption of protocols [66]	Communication attack	Man-in-the middle attack, network disruption, service unavailability	Network layer	Consensus algorithms, transparent distributed ledger, optimization of standard protocols, unique identifier, trusted authentication and authorization
Exploitation of misconfigu rations (OS. servers, frameworks, etc.) [66]	Software attack	Data theft, privacy violation	Application layer	Decentralized ledger, immutability of records, cryptographic encryption, smart contract execution, no intermediary involved
Single point of failure [66]	Communication attack	Damage to the entire system, deterioration in services provided by the IoT	Middleware layer	Establishment of decentralized and distributed network

energy companies starting from accounting, sales and marketing, smart grid application. and management to alternative energy distribution, energy trading, and record keeping for auditory and regulatory compliance. The use of blockchain and smart contracts means each consumer could have an energy profile encompassing their energy consumption patterns. This could lead to companies tailoring different products to suit different consumer needs. Implementing blockchain technology in microgrids would enable the use of sustainable resources. Moreover, utilizing it could ensure the transparency, auditability, and better regulation of the distribution network.