Purpose

Blockchain is evolving to become a platform for securing Internet of things (IoT) ecosystems. Still, challenges remain. The purpose of this literature review is to highlight the applicability of blockchain as a medium to secure IoT ecosystems. A two-dimensional framework anchored on (1) IoT layers and (2) security goals is used to organize the existent IoT security threats and their corresponding countermeasures identified in the reviewed literature. The framework helped in mapping the IoT security threats with the inherent features of blockchain and accentuate their prominence to IoT security.

Design/methodology/approach

An approach integrating computerized natural language processing (NLP) with a systematic literature review methodology was adopted. A large corpus of 2,303 titles and abstracts of blockchain articles was programmatically analyzed in order to identify the relevant literature. The identified literature was subjected to a systematic review guided by a well-established method in IS research.

Findings

The literature evidently highlights the prominence of blockchain as a mean to IoT security due to the distinctive features it encompasses. The authors’ investigation revealed that numerous existent threats are better addressed with blockchain than conventional mechanisms. Nevertheless, blockchain consumes resources such as electricity, time, bandwidth and disk space at a rate that is not yet easily accessible to common IoT ecosystems.

Research limitations/implications

Results suggest that a configurational approach that aligns IoT security requirements with the resource requirements of different blockchain features is necessary in order to realize the proper balance between security, efficiency and feasibility.

Practical implications

Practitioners can make use of the classified lists of convention security mechanisms and the IoT threats they address. The framework can help underline the countermeasures that best achieve their security goals. Practitioners can also use the framework to identify the most important features to seek for in a blockchain technology that can help them achieve their security goals.

Originality/value

This study proposes a novel framework that can help classify IoT threats based on the IoT layer impacted and the security goal at risk. Moreover, it applies a combined man-machine approach to systematically analyze the literature.

中文翻译：

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区块链作为保护物联网生态系统的一种手段——系统文献综述

目的

区块链正在发展成为保护物联网 (IoT) 生态系统的平台。尽管如此，挑战依然存在。本文献综述的目的是强调区块链作为保护物联网生态系统的媒介的适用性。一个基于 (1) 物联网层和 (2) 安全目标的二维框架用于组织现有的物联网安全威胁及其在审查文献中确定的相应对策。该框架有助于将物联网安全威胁与区块链的固有特征进行映射，并突出它们对物联网安全的重要性。

设计/方法/方法

采用了一种将计算机自然语言处理 (NLP) 与系统文献综述方法相结合的方法。以编程方式分析了包含 2,303 个标题和区块链文章摘要的大型语料库，以识别相关文献。在信息系统研究中已建立的方法指导下，对确定的文献进行了系统审查。

发现

文献显然强调了区块链作为物联网安全手段的重要性，因为它具有独特的特征。作者的调查显示，与传统机制相比，区块链可以更好地解决许多现有威胁。然而，区块链消耗电力、时间、带宽和磁盘空间等资源的速度尚不为常见的物联网生态系统容易获得。

研究限制/影响

结果表明，为了实现安全性、效率和可行性之间的适当平衡，需要一种使物联网安全要求与不同区块链功能的资源要求保持一致的配置方法。

实际影响

从业者可以利用公约安全机制的分类列表和他们解决的物联网威胁。该框架可以帮助强调最能实现其安全目标的对策。从业者还可以使用该框架来确定区块链技术中最重要的功能，以帮助他们实现安全目标。

原创性/价值

本研究提出了一种新颖的框架，可以帮助根据受影响的物联网层和面临风险的安全目标对物联网威胁进行分类。此外，它采用人机结合的方法来系统地分析文献。