The world of the Internet of Things (IoT) has the same challenge as the rest of the internet with the lack of verifiable identity of what is being connected to whom. This creates significant security and privacy risks for both the operators of IoT devices and the public at large. Although the number of IoT devices continues to multiply, the value they bring to business and society will be seriously compromised unless security and privacy issues related to the identity of these devices are addressed. This chapter outlines how the application of the self-sovereign identity (SSI) paradigm in the IoT space can close some of these security gaps and provide a resilient identity layer for IoT. Our guides include three active contributors to SSI and IoT infrastructure: Oscar Lage, global head of cybersecurity at Tecnalia; Santiago de Diego, cybersecurity researcher at Tecnalia Research; and Michael Shea, managing director, The Dingle Group.
The IoT landscape is one of immense diversity. Loosely, the IoT includes any device that can connect to a network (over any transport), stream data, and receive commands from afar. IoT covers industrial systems, building automation, home automation, healthcare, agriculture, mining, mobility, and wearables, just to name a few segments. Very few areas of our modern life are not touched by the IoT.