Comprehensive Analysis of Access Control Models in Edge Computing: Challenges, Solutions, and Future Directions

Many contemporary applications, including smart homes and autonomous vehicles, rely on the Internet of Things technology. While cloud computing provides a multitude of valuable services for these applications, it generally imposes constraints on latency-sensitive applications due to the significant propagation delays. As a complementary technique to cloud computing, edge computing situates computing resources closer to the data sources, which reduces the latency and simultaneously alleviates the bandwidth pressure for the cloud and enhances data security. While edge computing offers significant advantages, it also presents significant challenges in access control -- a critical component for safeguarding data. For instance, it is crucial to implement access control mechanisms that are both effective and efficient on resource-constrained devices, ensuring high security without compromising the inherent low latency benefits of edge computing. These challenges drive the development of innovative access control solutions tailored to meet the unique requirements of edge computing environments. We classify related references from the perspectives of multiple data lifecycles (including data collection, storage, and usage), which thoroughly investigates the access control techniques and helps readers understand them systematically. Finally, we reflect on the classification and envisage future research directions.