In-Depth view of 4 IoT Architecture Layers
As IoT promises magnificent opportunities, many organizations seek the inclusion of IoT products in their business operations. In reality, it seems complicated to implement multiple devices and conditions required to make it work. That means the problem of organizing a reliable IoT Architecture naturally enters the stage.
To deal with the whole different factors affecting IoT Architecture, it is simple and more efficient to find a reliable provider of IoT Solutions. There is no single and general accordance with IoT Architecture that is agreed by the whole world and researchers. There are different architecture has been proposed by the researchers. Due to enhancement in IoT and challenges in IoT regarding security as well as privacy, the architecture of 4 IoT layers has also been proposed. Due to all such issues, use this guide to understand what’s going on during IoT Architecture.
Before moving forward it is important to understand what this concept actually means. In reality, IoT Architecture is the system of countless elements such as sensors, actuators, protocols, cloud services, and layers. In addition to that IoT Architecture layers are differentiated in order to evaluate the consistency of the system. And it needs the same plan that any technology needs, including a plan for how it will merge into an organization’s existing infrastructure and systems.
Basically, there are three IoT Architecture layers that include:
- IoT Device Layer (mainly the client-side)
- IoT Gateway Layer (server-side operations)
- IoT Platform Layer (acts as a bridge for connecting clients and operators).
Addressing the requirements of all layers is critical in all stages of IoT Architecture. In addition to that, the fundamental features of IoT Architecture involve functionality, availability, and maintainability. If we are not addressing these conditions, the outcome of IoT Architecture will be a failure.
         Following are the primary layers of IoT which provide the solution for IoT Architecture
Application Layer
The application layer defines all applications in which IoT has deployed. It is the interface between the end IoT devices and the network. IoT Applications such as smart homes, smart health, smart cities, etc. It has the authority to provide services to the applications. The services may be different for each application because of services based on the information collected by sensors.
It is applied through a dedicated application at the device end. Such as for a computer, the application layer is applied by the browser. It is the browser that executes application layer protocols like HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, and FTP. There are many concerns in the application layer out of which security is the key issue.
Common issues and threats of application layers are:
Cross-site scripting:
It is a type of computer security infirmities that typically found in web applications. It enables attackers to inject client-side scripts such as JavaScript into web pages viewed by other users. By doing so, an attacker can completely change the contents of the application as per his needs and use original information in an illegal way.
The first method you can use to prevent cross-site scripting from appearing in your applications is by escaping user input. Escaping input means taking the data from an application has received and ensured it’s secure before supplying it for the end-user.
Validating input is another process of ensuring an application is providing the correct data and protecting harmful data from doing harm to the site, database, and users.
Malicious Code Attack:
It is a particular code in any part of the software system or script that is considered to cause undesired effects, security threats or damage to the system. It is that threat that may not be blocked or controlled by the use of anti-virus software.
Static Code Analysis (SCA) is an effective method to protect the malicious code from successfully causing any damage to computers. SCA is a debugging method of a computer program that is done by analyzing the code without performing the program. The process supplies an understanding of the code structure and can help to ensure that the code should match with industry standards.
Today’s superior scanners can easily detect malicious code such as a Data Leakage, Time Bombs, Anti Debugging techniques, backdoor Threats, etc.
Data Processing Layer
In three-layer architecture, the data were directly sent to the network layer. Due to sending data directly the chances of getting damages increase. In four-layer architecture, data is sent to this layer that is obtained from a perception layer. Data Processing Layer has two responsibilities it confirms that data is forwarded by the authentic users and prevented from threats.
Authentication is the most commonly used method to verify the users and the data. It is applied by using pre-shared, keys and passwords to the concerned user. The second responsibility of the layer is to send information to the network layer. The medium through which data is transferred from the Data Processing Layer to the network layer can be wireless and wire-based.
Common issues and threats of the Data Processing layer are:
DoS Attack:
An attacker sends a huge amount of data to make network traffic overloaded. Thus, the huge consumption of system resources exhausts the IoT and makes the user unable to access the system.
Deploy an antivirus program and firewall will restrict the bandwidth usage to authenticated users only. Server Configuration is another method that can help reduce the probability of being attacked.
Malicious Insider Attack:
It comes from the inside of an IoT environment to access private information. It is conducted by an authorized user to access the information of another user.
The practices such as an encryption of data, implementing proper password management practices, installing antivirus will helps to keep data safe from such threats.
Network Layer
This layer is also known as a transmission layer. It acts like a bridge that carries and transmits data gathered from physical objects through sensors. The medium can be wireless or wire-based. It also connects the network devices and networks to each other. Hence, it is extremely sensitive to attacks from the attackers. It has important security issues regarding integrity and authentication of data that is being transmitted to the network.
Common issues and threats of the Network layer are:
Main-in-The-Middle Attack:
MiTM attack is an attack where the attacker privately intercepts and modifies the communication between the sender and receiver who assume they are directly communicating with each other. It leads to a serious threat to online security because they give the attacker the pathway to capture and control data in real-time
Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions encrypts emails which ensures that only intended users can read will prevent data from MITM Attacks.
Storage Attack:
The crucial information of users is saved on storage devices or on the cloud. Both the storage devices and the cloud can be attacked by the attacker and the user’s information may be modified to incorrect details.
By making regular backups of files, by running anti-virus software and using a system with strong passwords so that data access is restricted are the ways by which we can protect data from the attacker.
Exploit Attack:
An exploit is any unethical or illegal attack in a form of software, blocks of data or a sequence of commands. It takes benefit of security infirmities in an application, system or hardware. It usually occurs with the goal of getting control of the system and steals information stored on the network. By installing all software patches, security releases and all updates for your software are few preventive measures against attack.
Perception layer/Sensor layer
The sensor layer has the responsibility to recognize things and gather the data from them. There are many types of sensors connected to the objects to gather information such as RFID, sensors and 2-D barcode. The sensors are selected as per the requirement of applications. The data that is collected by these sensors can be about location, changes in the air, environment, etc. However, they are the main aim of attackers who wish to use them to replace the sensor with their own.
Hence, most of the threats are related to sensors are
Eavesdropping:
It is an unauthorized real-time attack where personal communications, such as phone calls, fax transmissions, text messages are intercepted by an attacker. It tries to take crucial information that is transferred over a network. Preventive measures such as Access control, continuous supervision/observation of all devices, thorough inspection by a qualified technical countermeasures specialist of all components need to be ensured.
Replay Attack:
It is also known as a playback attack. It is an attack in which an attacker intrudes on the conversation between the sender and receiver and extracts authentic information from the sender. The added risk of replay attacks is that a hacker doesn’t even need improved skills to decrypt a message after seizing it from the network.
This attack can be prevented by using Timestamps on all messages. This protects hackers from resending messages sent longer ago than a particular length of time. Another preventive measure to avoid becoming a victim is to set a password for each transaction that’s only used once and discarded.
Timing Attack:
It is usually utilized in devices that have weak computing abilities. It allows an attacker to find vulnerabilities and withdraw secrets maintained in the security of a system by observing how long it takes the system to respond to various queries, input or other algorithms.
To prevent this attack we can simply make a constant-time comparison either by using timer functions. You should have tests that make sure that compiler optimizations don’t place timing infirmities back into your code.
In this way, IoT 4 layer architecture can fulfill the requirements of IoT regarding security and privacy. We have described different research about layered architectures of IoT and also outline the security attacks based on the layers that can affect the performance of IoT.
hIOTron shares practical approaches and tactics that will readily useful in the industry. hIOTron’s IoT Course helps weigh in many factors that come handy in building successful IoT products.