Blockchain-Based Security in Industrial loT: Challenges, Solutions, and Future Directions

The increasing adoption of the Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) has made it possible to achieve total automation, continuous and instant monitoring, and real-time analytics across various industries. Despite the benefits, the nature of these ecosystems is complex and interdependent, resulting in multiple security and privacy issues such as loss of control of devices, unauthorized access, distortion of information, and attacks on the system as a whole. Most legacy security approaches take a centralized and closed design, which does not work well in such flexible environments. This is where the benefits of blockchain, such as decentralization, transparency, and the inability to modify data, can improve trust, authentication, data integrity, and the ability to perform audits in IIoT. This survey focuses on the various security issues related to IIOT and the role of blockchain in them, including identity and access control, secure data sharing, integrity, protection, consensus mechanisms, automation through smart contracts, and hybrid blockchain-IIoT systems. We assess major blockchain platforms and consensus algorithms in relation to industry workload tiering and real-world industry use cases. Blockchain types (public, private, and consortium) are evaluated concerning their performance, scale, and governance. We assessed key limitations to latency and legacy systems, integration, and a particular focus on energy consumption and regulatory limits. We conclude with a few considerations for upcoming research to include lightweight blockchain for resource-scarce IIoT devices, AI enhanced security blockchain, standard sets for cross blockchain interoperability, and distributed ledger systems on the edge/fog. The consensus is that while blockchain alone will not resolve IIOT security impairments, it is a major factor in the creation of secure, transparent, and resilient infrastructure necessary to support the industry ۴.۰ IIoT ecosystem.

کلیدواژه ها:

Blockchain ، Security ، Identity Management ، Data Integrity ، Smart Contracts ، Scalability