A Middleware for the Internet of Things

TL;DR

This paper introduces IoT-MP, a middleware designed to address location privacy and management challenges in IoT environments, considering low-power, heterogeneity, scalability, and user-controlled privacy granularity.

Contribution

The paper proposes IoT-MP, a middleware solution that enhances privacy management and control tailored for the unique constraints of IoT devices and networks.

Findings

Addresses low-power and heterogeneity in IoT privacy solutions

Provides user-controlled privacy granularity based on context

Enhances scalability and autonomy in IoT privacy management

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) connects everyday objects including a vast array of sensors, actuators, and smart devices, referred to as things to the Internet, in an intelligent and pervasive fashion. This connectivity gives rise to the possibility of using the tracking capabilities of things to impinge on the location privacy of users. Most of the existing management and location privacy protection solutions do not consider the low-cost and low-power requirements of things, or, they do not account for the heterogeneity, scalability, or autonomy of communications supported in the IoT. Moreover, these traditional solutions do not consider the case where a user wishes to control the granularity of the disclosed information based on the context of their use (e.g. based on the time or the current location of the user). To fill this gap, a middleware, referred to as the Internet of Things Management Platform (IoT-MP) is proposed in this paper.