Efficient Lightweight Blockchain with Hybridized Consensus Algorithm for IoT Networks

Blockchain (BC) technology has attracted a lot of interest due to its excellent security and privacy features as well as its immutability. While BC can address security and privacy challenges in IoT, it is often computationally expensive, suffers from limited scalability, and introduces bandwidth overheads and delays, making it unsuitable for IoT applications. This paper proposes a novel lightweight and scalable blockchain (LIGHT-SB) designed specifically for IoT environments. In a smart IoT ecosystem, low-resource devices benefit from a centralized manager that handles communication keys and manages requests. LIGHT-SB enhances decentralization while maintaining robust privacy and security through a hybrid consensus algorithm combining permissionless proof-of-capacity and permissioned Byzantine fault tolerance (PoC-PBFT). Secure message delivery is achieved using SHA-256 and RSA cryptographic techniques. IoT device authentication, communication, and storage are safeguarded within the network. Distributed throughput management is implemented to monitor and adjust BC usage, ensuring it remains efficient. Qualitative evaluations demonstrate that LIGHT-SB effectively mitigates several security threats.