A Solution for Controlling and Managing User Profiles based on Data Privacy for IoT Applications

TL;DR

This paper presents a flexible user profile management solution for IoT applications that enhances privacy and adapts profiles over time based on environment-specific rules, validated through simulation and testing.

Contribution

It introduces an environment-aware module for the UbiPri Middleware that dynamically adjusts user profiles to improve privacy management in IoT settings.

Findings

High adaptability of the implementation to different environments

Effective profile modifications based on environment rules

Validation through probabilistic simulation and user authentication

Abstract

IoT is an emerging area in which we expect to have billions of devices connected to the Internet by 2020. IoT applications can offer many benefits to environments, society and the economy through the interconnection and cooperation of smart objects. However, there are many privacy challenges, such as authentication, authorization, and confidentiality of personal data. With this in mind, we have developed a solution for managing user profiles based on privacy and evolution. For that, we define the criteria and characteristics for each environment. The contribution of the work also applies to the evolution of the UbiPri Middleware, with a module implemented and tested according to the rules of environments so that they can modify the user's profile over time according to their frequency in the environment. The modified profile can be raised, reduced and blocked. This implementation has been validated using scripts that perform probabilistic simulation and user authentication. From the rules assigned to the environments, it was possible to perceive the high adaptability of the implementation, and it can be easily adjusted to any IoT environment that wants to treat the authentication and privacy of environments and users. The results obtained were satisfactory and could be useful for both the evolution of the UbiPri Middleware and other related works.