Blockchain-Based Services Implemented in a Microservices Architecture Using a Trusted Platform Module Applied to Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

Antonio J. Cabrera-Gutiérrez, Encarnación Castillo, Antonio Escobar-Molero, Juan Cruz-Cozar, Diego P. Morales () and Luis Parrilla
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Antonio J. Cabrera-Gutiérrez: Infineon Technologies AG, Am Campeon 1–15, 85579 Neubiberg, Germany
Encarnación Castillo: Department of Electronics and Computer Technology, University of Granada, Avda. de Fuente Nueva s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain
Antonio Escobar-Molero: Infineon Technologies AG, Am Campeon 1–15, 85579 Neubiberg, Germany
Juan Cruz-Cozar: Infineon Technologies AG, Am Campeon 1–15, 85579 Neubiberg, Germany
Diego P. Morales: Department of Electronics and Computer Technology, University of Granada, Avda. de Fuente Nueva s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain
Luis Parrilla: Department of Electronics and Computer Technology, University of Granada, Avda. de Fuente Nueva s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 11, 1-24

Abstract: Microservice architectures exploit container-based virtualized services, which rarely use hardware-based cryptography. A trusted platform module (TPM) offers a hardware root for trust in services that makes use of cryptographic operations. The virtualization of this hardware module offers high usability for other types of service that require TPM functionalities. This paper proposes the design of TPM virtualization in a container. To ensure integrity, different mechanisms, such as attestation and sealing, have been developed for the binaries and libraries stored in the container volumes. Through a REST API, the container offers the functionalities of a TPM, such as key generation and signing. To prevent unauthorized access to the container, this article proposes an authentication mechanism based on tokens issued by the Cognito Amazon Web Service. As a proof of concept and applicability in industry, a use case for electric vehicle charging stations using a microservice-based architecture is proposed. Using the EOS.IO blockchain to maintain a copy of the data, the virtualized TPM microservice provides the cryptographic operations necessary for blockchain transactions. Through a two-factor authentication mechanism, users can access the data. This scenario shows the potential of using blockchain technologies in microservice-based architectures, where microservices such as the virtualized TPM fill a security gap in these architectures.

Keywords: blockchain; containers; electrical vehicles; EOS.IO; hardware security modules; microservice architecture; trusted platform module; virtualized environment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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