On this week’s The Sci-Files, your hosts Chelsie and Danny interview Nick Ivanov. Nick is a second-year graduate student, pursuing his Ph.D. in Computer Science at Michigan State University (MSU). His major research area lies at the intersection of blockchain and the security of the Internet of Things (IoT). He conducts his research as part of the MSU SEIT (SEcure and Intelligent Things) lab led by Dr. Qiben Yan. They use smart contracts to replace password-based authentication with private-key authentication and achieve the highest levels of security, privacy, and reliability.

The blockchain technology is often associated with cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. However, the unique properties of blockchain are useful not only for cryptocurrencies. Blockchain allows us to elegantly address some security-related challenges of the IoT world. Moreover, blockchain technology allows deploy and run immutable, deterministic, irreversible, and non-deniable programs called smart contracts. In his lab, they show that smart contracts allow them to bring the Internet of Things into the new level of security, reliability, and convenience.

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