SoK: A Systematic Literature Review of Bluetooth Security Threats and Mitigation Measures

Introduction: In December 2019, China faced the COVID-19 outbreak. COVID-19 is a disease caused by the pathogen, SARS-CoV-2 which is a single stranded RNA virus that spreads person to person via direct contact or respiratory droplets. Since this disease has been found to be highly contagious, prevention from virus exposure seems to be a reasonable approach especially due to lack of an effective vaccination up till now. Our study is aimed at proposing the prophylactic strategies that can be implemented in Pakistan to help flatten the disease curve in order to provide more time for healthcare professionals to fight the disease better and to hopefully come up with an effective vaccination for long term disease control. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review based on PRISMA guidelines. Only those articles were included which met the inclusion criteria. Results: The results gathered by the literature search suggested that due to the lack of any licensed vaccine or effective treatment, adopting personal and environmental protective measures, isolation and quarantine, and other community mitigation measures like temporary lockdown can help flatten the peak of the ongoing pandemic. Conclusion: Since there has not been any breakthrough in finding an effective vaccine, our review aims to devise an effective preventive strategy to curb this pandemic according to the present socio-economic conditions of Pakistan.

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Blockchain as a mean to secure Internet of Things ecosystems – a systematic literature review

Journal of Enterprise Information Management ◽

10.1108/jeim-12-2020-0533 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Mazen El-Masri ◽

Eiman Mutwali Abdelmageed Hussain

Keyword(s):

Internet Of Things ◽

Literature Review ◽

Language Processing ◽

Systematic Literature Review ◽

Relevant Literature ◽

Security Requirements ◽

Security Threats ◽

Iot Security ◽

Content Type ◽

Blockchain Technology

PurposeBlockchain is evolving to become a platform for securing Internet of things (IoT) ecosystems. Still, challenges remain. The purpose of this literature review is to highlight the applicability of blockchain as a medium to secure IoT ecosystems. A two-dimensional framework anchored on (1) IoT layers and (2) security goals is used to organize the existent IoT security threats and their corresponding countermeasures identified in the reviewed literature. The framework helped in mapping the IoT security threats with the inherent features of blockchain and accentuate their prominence to IoT security.Design/methodology/approachAn approach integrating computerized natural language processing (NLP) with a systematic literature review methodology was adopted. A large corpus of 2,303 titles and abstracts of blockchain articles was programmatically analyzed in order to identify the relevant literature. The identified literature was subjected to a systematic review guided by a well-established method in IS research.FindingsThe literature evidently highlights the prominence of blockchain as a mean to IoT security due to the distinctive features it encompasses. The authors’ investigation revealed that numerous existent threats are better addressed with blockchain than conventional mechanisms. Nevertheless, blockchain consumes resources such as electricity, time, bandwidth and disk space at a rate that is not yet easily accessible to common IoT ecosystems.Research limitations/implicationsResults suggest that a configurational approach that aligns IoT security requirements with the resource requirements of different blockchain features is necessary in order to realize the proper balance between security, efficiency and feasibility.Practical implicationsPractitioners can make use of the classified lists of convention security mechanisms and the IoT threats they address. The framework can help underline the countermeasures that best achieve their security goals. Practitioners can also use the framework to identify the most important features to seek for in a blockchain technology that can help them achieve their security goals.Originality/valueThis study proposes a novel framework that can help classify IoT threats based on the IoT layer impacted and the security goal at risk. Moreover, it applies a combined man-machine approach to systematically analyze the literature.

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