IOTA Plays a Key Role in Preventing Data Breaches and Improving Efficiency in IoT Vehicles

• According to a research paper, the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) ledger of IOTA could be tailored to meet the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) needs for effective traceability, throughput, and security. 

• IOTA is reported to be able to identify attacks and could be a “major fabric” in offsetting the issues of security breaches in IoV. 

Internet of Vehicles (IoV) – a network of connected autonomous vehicles that share data over the internet for secured and efficient means of transportation. Data breaches have threatened their growth in recent times. This is confirmed by a report by a non-profit organization, Consumer Watchdog, disclosing that most connected vehicles share similar vulnerabilities. 

In the report titled “Kill Switch: Why Connected Cars Can Be Killing Machines And How To Turn Them Off,” researchers alleged that automakers reveal high risks of such breaches to investors while keeping them away from the public. This is evident in Ford’s disclosure in a 10K filing to the Securities Exchange Commission, citing that its suppliers have been victims of malicious attacks. 

In another research report titled “Malicious Data Traceability and Throughput Optimization Using Blockchain (IOTA Smart Contracts) for Next Generation Internet of Vehicles,” it was stated emphatically that traditional centralized networks fail to contain these attacks due to their limitations in scalability, latency, and security. 

Fascinatingly, the author, Malka N. Halgamuge, at the Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics, RMIT University, Australia, noted that the decentralized blockchain architecture could be the best alternative. 

More on the Role of IOTA in IoV and Other Use Cases

Admitting that conventional blockchains also have limitations, the research suggested the need to develop an architecture based on the IOTA’s Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) ledger. According to the study, this can be tailored to the IoV’s needs for advanced traceability, throughput, and security. 

We propose an IOTA-based model using smart contracts for malicious data/user tracing and timing side channels for attack detection. We adaptively schedule data to optimize throughput based on traffic conditions. Our simulations compare throughput, latency, and attack detection across varied scenarios. Our results demonstrate that the architecture enables automated security via decentralized consensus, avoiding centralized failures.

The research paper explained further that smart contracts facilitate real-time threat tracing and mitigation. With that, IOTA’s ability to identify attacks through a low latency fluctuation is revealed in timing analysis. The research paper also mentions that resorting to IOTA’s innovation, smart contract, and integrating reputation systems would boost security, scalability, and efficiency compared to centralized and blockchain IoV networks. 

This work advances IoV security by outlining a comprehensive blockchain solution leveraging IOTA’s unique capabilities. The decentralized mechanisms enhance traceability and trust while optimizing performance tailored to vehicular demands. This establishes a foundation for reliable and safe autonomous driving through innovations in distributed ledger technology.

As we previously reported, outside the framework of IoV, IOTA has also become an important part of music and film. It recently launched a solution prototype that is revolutionizing the industry by leveraging DLT to streamline intellectual property rights management. 

At press time, IOTA was trading at $0.134 after surging by 0.55% in the last 24 hours. However, the price had declined by 21% in the 30 days and 41% in the last 90 days.