The Cryptographic Key Distribution System for IoT Systems in the MQTT Environment

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a very abundant source of data, as well as a source of many vulnerabilities. A significant challenge is preparing security solutions to protect IoT nodes’ resources and the data exchanged. The difficulty usually stems from the insufficient resources of these nodes in terms of computing power, memory size, range energy resource, and wireless link performance. The paper presents the design and demonstrator of a system for symmetric cryptographic Key Generating, Renewing, and Distributing (KGRD). The system uses the TPM 2.0 hardware module to support cryptographic procedures, including creating trust structures, key generation, and securing the node’s exchange of data and resources. Clusters of sensor nodes and traditional systems can use the KGRD system to secure data exchange in the federated cooperation of systems with IoT-derived data sources. The transmission medium for exchanging data between KGRD system nodes is the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) service, which is commonly used in IoT networks.