Security Architectures for the Internet of Things: A Comparative Review of Proactive and Adaptive Approaches (2019–2026)

Nabila Zine and Cherkaoui Leghris, Hassan II University of Casablanca, Morocco

ABSTRACT

The Internet of Things (IoT) has become a critical infrastructure exposed to an increasing diversity of cyberattacks, amplified by protocol heterogeneity, the resource constraints of embedded devices and the decentralisation of deployment architectures. Traditional reactive mechanisms, based on a posteriori detection and static signatures, no longer suffice against sophisticated, multi-stage and evolving threats. This paper reviews twenty contributions published between 2019 and 2026 on IoT security architectures and compares them along seven transversal criteria: target layers, main approach, proactivity, adaptivity, decentralisation, edge integration and compatibility with embedded constraints. The analysis shows a clear shift from static layered taxonomies towards intelligent architectures that combine deep learning, Zero Trust governance, decentralised trust mechanisms and, more recently, digital twins and large language models for threat anticipation. No existing architecture, however, simultaneously satisfies proactivity, adaptivity without full retraining, and deployability under embedded resource constraints.

Keywords

Internet of Things, Security architecture, Intrusion detection, Zero Trust, Federated learning, Blockchain, Digital twin, Large language models, Edge computing.