Blockchain-Enabled Secure Data Sharing in IoT Networks

Abstract

The rapid expansion of Internet-of-Things (IoT) networks introduces significant challenges in securely managing data sharing among heterogeneous, resource-constrained devices. Blockchain technology offers a promising solution by enabling decentralized trust, integrity, and authentication for IoT data exchange. This paper reviews and synthesizes key contributions from 2021, addressing how blockchain supports secure data sharing in IoT. We first examine industrial IoT settings, where blockchain integrated with identity-based cryptography enables sensoractuator data sharing, as proposed by Meng & Li, ensuring security and data provenance MDPI. Another study employs Hyperledger Fabric within an IoT–big data ecosystem to decentralize provenance tracking, offloading metadata to a blockchain ledger while storing bulk data off-chain for efficiency SpringerOpen. Architecturally, Brotsis et al. assess blockchain platform suitability — focusing on IoT’s stringent requirements for performance, privacy, and resilience. Their findings highlight that many blockchain platforms fail to meet IoT constraints arXiv. Additionally, Pal et al. survey blockchain-based access control mechanisms for IoT, emphasizing decentralized, tamper-resistant control but also noting limitations such as scalability and integration complexity arXiv. Based on these works, we propose a research methodology that integrates identity-based cryptographic authentication, permissioned blockchain (e.g., Hyperledger), and off-chain storage with integrity validation via IPFS or ledger references. This hybrid approach balances security, latency, and storage constraints for IoT networks. Advantages include immutable audit trails, fine-grained access control, and reduced reliance on central servers. Drawbacks involve limited scalability, increased latency, and complexity of deployment. This paper concludes by highlighting results demonstrating feasibility of decentralized provenance tracking and secure access control. It positions future work toward optimizing consensus, enhancing lightweight identity and access mechanisms, and improving blockchain–IoT interoperability. The contributions serve as a framework guiding practical, secure IoT data-sharing implementations.