As the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to expand, safeguarding all that interconnected data is a daunting task. Securing the IoT is incredibly important for a number of sectors including small cities and healthcare companies, and from manufacturing to home automation.
With those challenges and opportunities in mind, Atonomi - the blockchain-based arm of IoT security provider CENTRI Technology - has been beta testing its Atonomi Network since about May.
According to the company, once it’s fully tested and deployed, Atonomi Network is intended to be the first blockchain-enabled security protocol to provide device registration, activation, validation, and reputation while ensuring IoT security.
The key innovation behind the network is the ability to root the identity and reputation of devices on the blockchain, enabling trusted interoperability between billions of connected devices, the company claims.
As part of the beta launch, the Atonomi Network includes a software development kit (SDK) available on GitHub. Developers can use the kit to embed the Atonomi Network security protocol into IoT devices. A QuickStart Guide will help developers understand how to implement the technology and the process for registering a device with the network while smart contracts will tie the Atonomi Network to the Ethereum blockchain.
As Atonomi CEO Vaughan Emery points out, there are already billions of IoT devices deployed and they represent a vast attack surface for hackers and other bad actors to target. “Future projections show ever greater numbers of these devices, tightly woven into the infrastructure of our daily lives,” says Emery. “We believe Atonomi’s root-of-trust device identity and reputation tracking are essential to securing device interoperability required for the world to enjoy the full potential of the IoT.”
Blockchain Growth
The Atonomi Network aims to promote the growth of smart cities by enabling municipalities to safely and securely link IoT devices like smart street lights and traffic centers. It also seeks to help healthcare organizations protect devices within clinics alongside devices sent home with patients like insulin pumps and heart monitors.
According to the company, this will be achieved by providing blockchain-based secure identity and reputation to developers and manufacturers, giving them the ability to secure and validate IoT devices across real-world applications.
Blockchain is still a relatively young technology and it will have to overcome a number of obstacles to achieve mass adoption. But most experts say the blockchain revolution is coming and channel partners should be prepared. Essentially, it works by storing data on a shared database, not in any one location and hosted by millions of computers simultaneously.
The technology’s roots can be traced back to Bitcoin. It was first conceived of in 2008 and rolled out the following year to serve as a public ledger for all transactions using the cryptocurrency.
