Emerging Authentication Technologies for Zero Trust in IoT Systems

Abstract

This paper investigates the integration of advanced authentication technologies to establish Zero Trust security frameworks within Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems. Due to IoT's distributed and resource-constrained nature, traditional security mechanisms prove insufficient, necessitating more robust, adaptive solutions. Our study addresses this gap by implementing a Zero Trust model through lightweight cryptographic techniques suited to IoT devices, mutual authentication protocols to ensure reciprocal identity verification between devices and networks, and blockchain technology for decentralized, tamper-proof identity management. Using a simulated IoT environment, we assessed key performance metrics, such as security enhancement, latency reduction, and energy efficiency. Results indicate that mutual authentication and blockchain, when combined, significantly improve overall security while minimizing latency and computational load, making the framework viable for real-time, resource-limited IoT applications. The findings support that these Zero Trust authentication technologies provide a scalable and resilient approach, effectively mitigating the security vulnerabilities inherent in IoT networks and promising wide-scale applicability in critical IoT-dependent sectors.