Securing tags to control information flows within the Internet of Things

To realise the full potential of the Internet of Things (loT), loT architectures are moving towards open and dynamic interoperability, as opposed to closed application silos. This is because functionality is realised through the interactions, i.e. the exchange of data, between a wide-range of ´things´. Data sharing requires management. Towards this, we are exploring distributed, decentralised Information Flow Control (IFC) to enable controlled data flows, end-to-end, according to policy. In this paper we make the case for IFC, as a data-centric control mechanism, for securing loT architectures. Previous research on IFC focuses on a particular system or application, e.g. within an operating system, with little concern for wide-scale, dynamic systems. To render IFC applicable to loT, we present a certificate-based model for secure, trustworthy policy specification, that also reflects real-world loT concerns such as ´thing´ ownership. This approach enables decentralised, distributed, verifiable policy specification, crucial for securing the wide-ranging, dynamic interactions of future loT applications.