Abstract: The development of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in critical infrastructures—namely, electric grids, health systems, transport systems, and industrial control networks—has ushered in monumental advantages in terms of automation, efficiency, and data-informed decision-making. Yet, the digital revolution has also been linked to heightened vulnerability to cybersecurity attacks in the form of data breaches, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, spoofing, and unauthorized access. Decentralized security paradigms are now falling short to cope with the distributed, heterogeneous, and resource-limited nature of IoT networks. Here, the convergence of Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies presents an end-to-end and promising solution to securing IoT. Blockchain's distributed, secure ledger guarantees data integrity, secure device authentication, transparent logging, and tamper-proof device communication. Policy enforcement and secure access control capabilities can be automated via smart contracts. AI completes this framework with context-aware analytics features such as anomaly detection, real-time threat anticipation, behaviour monitoring, and automated incident response. This work investigates a Blockchain-AI hybrid architecture specifically to secure IoT environments in critical infrastructures. We introduce a multi-layered architecture that welcomes edge computing, federated learning, and smart contracts to provide an efficient, scalable, and secure security model. The system seeks to detect advanced cyber-attacks, automate response activities, and provide secure peer-to-peer communication in a distributed device network. Along with describing the technicalities of this merged model, the paper also tackles significant challenges—latency, energy efficiency, and scalability—and comes across areas for upcoming research like lightweight consensus algorithms and privacy-preserving AI models. The real-world applications of these in smart grid, healthcare, and industrial automation are evaluated to suggest the real-world application and efficacy of the proposed solution. This research is intended to assist in the formulation of future-proof cybersecurity frameworks using the potential of Blockchain and AI to establish smart, autonomous, and decentralized IoT security infrastructures.
Keywords: Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Critical Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Smart Contracts, Anomaly Detection, Decentralized Security, Federated Learning, Edge Computing
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DOI:
10.17148/IJARCCE.2025.144110
