Configuring edge device provenance through messaging middleware

Abstract

Integrity of data is important in today as more of societies structure today are distributed and becomes vulnerable to dishonest entities on their edge devices. Using provenance to prove integrity over edge devices and distributed networks is difficult, as it often produces big amounts of data which fills up storage without having a need to be used. Comm2Prov seeks to fix this by combining the selective provenance capture of CamFlow and the distributed messaging of MQTT. Using a client to send messages between underlying CamFlow and the MQTT service, Comm2Prov allows commands to be sent to CamFlow instances running on edge devices. This can be used to issue tracking control, allowing distant auditors to turn off and on provenance on devices without having to need direct access to the device itself. Through this thesis, the challenges and problems which were discovered during Comm2Prov’s creation will be discussed, including topics as: security, performance, and the issues with provenance