# BlockLoc: Secure Localization in the Internet-of-Things using Blockchain

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a blockchain-based secure localization method for IoT devices that verifies and authenticates location data to prevent false information and improve accuracy.

## Contribution

It presents a novel blockchain-based framework that ensures secure, verified localization data sharing among IoT devices, enhancing accuracy and security against malicious attacks.

## Key findings

- Improved localization accuracy in the presence of malicious nodes
- Effective verification of location claims before blockchain inclusion
- Enhanced data integrity through digital signatures

## Abstract

Several IoT applications are tightly dependent on the locations of the devices. However, localization algorithms can be easily compromised by injecting false locations. In this paper, we propose a Blockchain-based secure localization algorithm for the Internet of Things (IoT). The algorithm uses a public ledger (Blockchain) that contains nodes position and the list of their neighbor nodes. This ledger is shared among the IoT devices. Once an IoT device is localized its new position and the list of neighbor nodes are added to the Blockchain. This shared localization data will be used later by other IoT devices for their localization process. To avoid the attack where a malicious node sends a fake position, the correctness of the claimed position are verified before adding it to the Blockchain. Moreover, data exchanged between nodes (IoT devices) are signed to guarantee their authenticity and integrity. The integration of these security mechanisms into the localization process permits to exclude false data and therefore reduces the localization error. The simulation results show that adding the proposed security mechanism improves the localization accuracy of the algorithm when running in the presence of malicious nodes.