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Virginia Tech

Solutions for Internet of Things Security Challenges: Trust and Authentication

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The continuing growth of Internet-connected devices presents exciting opportunities for future technology. These Internet of Things (IoT) products are being manufactured and interleaved with many everyday activities, which is creating a larger security concern. Sensors will collect previously unimaginable amounts of private and public data and transmit all of it through an easily observable wireless medium in order for other devices to perform data analytics. As more and more devices are produced, many are lacking a strong security foundation in order to be the "first to market." Moreover, current security techniques are based on protocols that were designed for more-capable devices such as desktop computers and cellular phones that have ample power, computational ability, and memory storage. Due to IoT's technological infancy, there are many security challenges without proper solutions. As IoT continues to grow, special considerations and protections must be in place to properly secure this data and protect the privacy of its users. This dissertation highlights some of the major challenges related to IoT and prioritizes their impacts to help identify where gaps are that must be filled. Focusing on these high priority concerns, solutions are presented that are tailored to IoT's constraints. A security feature-based framework is developed to help characterize classes of devices to help manage the heterogeneous nature of IoT devices and networks. A novel physical device authentication method is presented to show the feasibility in IoT devices and networks. Additional low-power techniques are designed and evaluated to help identify different security features available to IoT devices as presented in the aforementioned framework.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Doctor of Philosophy
Level thesis:degree_level
doctoral
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Computer Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2019

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • McGinthy, Jason M.
Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Clancy, Thomas Charles III
  • Michaels, Alan J.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Hicks, Matthew
  • MacKenzie, Allen B.
  • Saad, Walid

Subjects

dc:subject × 5

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:21765
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/91443

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

McGinthy, Jason M.. Solutions for Internet of Things Security Challenges: Trust and Authentication. doctoral thesis, Virginia Tech, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/91443