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Internship: Security of IoT transmissions to blockchains

François Verdier
Laboratoire LEAT, francois.verdier@univ-cotedazur.fr

Introduction

In the field of intelligent objects, which are capable of retrieving a whole category of
information (such as the temperature of an aqueous solution, the pressure in oil pipes,
identification badge numbers, reaction control in a nuclear power plant, etc.) and
transmitting it to a dedicated database via a wireless channel, we are today making
enormous progress in applications. Unfortunately, most of these databases are
centralized and therefore subject to attack, and thus to the security of the applications
themselves.
For the past 7 years, LEAT has been working on communications from IoT to a new
database structure, which is totally decentralized. These communications to blockchains
ensure maximum confidence in the exchanges made. Even though these
communications are extremely secure (thanks to dense signatures on elliptical curves or
complex hash calculations), the fact remains that transactions to blockchains risk being
potential targets for hackers. Similarly, potential improvements in future quantum
computers could render obsolete all cryptographic solutions currently used in
blockchains (see articles on NIST-validated cryptographic solutions).
In this context, we are planning, with one of the laboratory’s PhDs, Roland Kromes, who
is now at TU Delft University in the Netherlands, and Luc Gerrits, who is a second PhD
on the same theme, to take up an initial study we had carried out and extend it to the
global case of the security of communications carried out by extremely constrained IoTs.

The work to do

In this work, the student will be asked to draw up a bibliography of cryptographic
solutions, understand the sequence of cryptographic operations associated with
transactions to blockchains and study the cryptographic IPs that could be used today.
Secondly, we want to study the operation on a particular blockchain (e.g. a blockchain
developed using the Substrate framework) of a particular IoT (typically an Arduino
board) and consider coupling it with an ATEC608A (from Microchip) or SE050 (from
NXP) cryptographic circuit to enable truly secure communication. Thirdly, the aim is to
lay the foundations for the design of a cryptographic IP dedicated to blockchains.In the work to come, we obviously plan to collaborate with Roland Kromes and Luc
Gerrits, and possibly go to Delft during the internship.

The proposed internship

Interns are paid around €600 per month for 6 months. At the end of the internship, it is
possible to continue for 3 years on a thesis subject.

Internship location

This proposition will be at the LEAT laboratory, in France, and will be at the University
Cote d’Azur, in Sophia Antipolis. Address is : LEAT, UMR CNRS, 06903 Sophia
Antipolis, France. Professor François Verdier will supervise this internship.

Reference (an extract)

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