Protecting personal data in IoT platform scenarios through encryption-based selective disclosure

• Published in: Computer communications 2018-10, Vol.130, p.20-37
• Main Authors: Hernández-Ramos, José L., Pérez, Salvador, Hennebert, Christine, Bernabé, Jorge Bernal, Denis, Benoit, Macabies, Alexandre, Skarmeta, Antonio F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attribute-based encryption; Confidentiality; Internet of Things; Smart buildings
• ISSN: 0140-3664; 1873-703X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.comcom.2018.08.010

As the Internet of Things evolves, citizens are starting to change the way they share information and communicate with their surrounding environment, enabling a constant, invisible and sometimes unintended information exchange. This trend raises new challenges regarding user’s privacy and personal consent about the disclosure of personal data that must be addressed by flexible and scalable mechanisms. Towards this end, this work introduces the concept of bubble, as a coalition or group of smart objects that can be created according to the relationship between their owners. The proposed approach is based on the use of attribute-based encryption to protect the associated data according to users’ preferences, and FI-WARE components for deployment purposes. As a scenario example, the solution is integrated with a radio localization system, in order to protect location data in the context of smart buildings. Finally, this work provides implementation details about the required components, as well as their evaluation on real smart environment scenarios.