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Access Controls for IoT Networks

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Abstract

The message queuing telemetry transport (MQTT) protocol is becoming the main protocol for the internet of things (IoT). In this paper, we define a highly expressive attribute-based access control (ABAC) security model for the MQTT protocol. Our model allows us to regulate not only publications and subscriptions, but also distribution of messages to subscribers. We can express various types of contextual security rules (temporal security rules, content-based security rules, rules based on the frequency of events, etc.).

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Notes

  1. Note that in the MQTT protocol the distribution of messages by the broker is implemented by means of publish messages. From a security point of view, we prefer to make a clear distinction between the privilege to publish in a given topic (this privilege can be held by any node) and the privilege to deliver messages to subscribers (this privilege can be held only by the broker).

  2. https://redis.io/.

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Correspondence to Alban Gabillon.

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This article is part of the topical collection “Future Data and Security Engineering” guest edited by Tran Khanh Dang.

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Gabillon, A., Gallier, R. & Bruno, E. Access Controls for IoT Networks. SN COMPUT. SCI. 1, 24 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42979-019-0022-z

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