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In recent years, both the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain technologies have been highly influential and revolutionary. IoT enables companies to embrace Industry 4.0, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which benefits from communication and connectivity to reduce cost and to increase productivity through sensor-based autonomy. These automated systems can be further refined with smart contracts that are executed within a blockchain, thereby increasing transparency through continuous and indisputable logging. Ideally, the level of security for these IoT devices shall be very high, as they are specifically designed for this autonomous and networked environment. This paper discusses a use case of a company with legacy devices that wants to benefit from the features and functionality of blockchain technology. In particular, the implications of retrofit solutions are analyzed. The use of the BISS:4.0 platform is proposed as the underlying infrastructure. BISS:4.0 is intended to integrate the blockchain technologies into existing enterprise environments. Furthermore, a security analysis of IoT and blockchain present attacks and countermeasures are presented that are identified and applied to the mentioned use case.
In modern industrial production lines, the integration and interconnection of various different manufacturing components, like robots, laser cutting machines, milling machines, CNC-machines, etc. allows for a higher degree of autonomous production on the shop floor. Manufacturers of these increasingly complex machines are beginning to equip their business models with bidirectional data flows to other factories. This is creating a digital, cross-company shop floor infrastructure where the transfer of information is controlled by digital contracts. To establish a trusted ecosystem, the new technology "blockchain" and a variety of technology stacks must be combined while ensuring security. Such blockchain-based frameworks enable bidirectional trust across all contract partners. Essential data flows are defined by specific technical representation of contract agreements and executed through smart contracts.This work describes a platform for rapid cross-company business model instantiation based on blockchain for establishing trust between the enterprises. It focuses on selected security aspects of the deployment- and configuration processes applied by the industrial ecosystem. A threat analysis of the platform shows the critical security risks. Based on an industrial dynamic machine leasing use case, a risk assessment and security analysis of the key platform components is carried out.
The aim of this bachelor thesis is to answer the question of what a new world currency system based on a cryptocurrency could look like. For this purpose, the following research questions were posed:
1. What could be the design of an international digital currency?
2. How would a revived gold standard using an international digital currency be designed?
3. How would a revived Bretton Woods System using the Special Drawing Rights from the International Monetary Fund fixed to an international digital currency look like?
To answer these research questions, a comparison was made with the world currency systems that already existed. Here, the problems of the gold standard and Bretton Woods system were deductively crystallised through a literature review and then inductively applied to the possible system.
The study shows that this system is economically feasible and can solve most of the problems of the past world monetary systems. However, as it requires governments and central banks to cede their sovereignty it is unlikely to be actually adopted. Nevertheless, there are advantages of a digital currency issued by the central bank, such as the detachment from interest and money supply, which would also be politically feasible and sensible in the long term.