How can Blockchain technology disrupt and improve infraestructure security?
The current internet architecture has proven easy to hack, especially when it comes to IoT devices. As critical infrastructure like power plants and transportation all become equipped with connected sensors, the risks to civil society as we know it are great. Though blockchain’s ledger is public, its data communications are sent and verified using advanced cryptographic techniques — ensuring that data is coming from correct sources and that nothing is intercepted in the interim. Thus, if blockchain adoption is more widely accepted, the probability of hacking could go down, as the cyberprotections of the technology are more robust than legacy systems.
In order to destroy or corrupt a blockchain, a hacker would have to destroy the data stored on every user’s computer in the global network. This could be millions of computers, with each one storing a copy of some or all the data. Unless the hacker could simultaneously bring down an entire network (which is near impossible), undamaged computers, also known as “nodes”, would continue running to verify and keep record of all the data on the network. The impossibility of a task like taking down a whole chain increases along with the amount of users on a network. Bigger blockchain networks with more users have an infinitely lower risk of getting attacked by hackers because of the complexity required to penetrate such a network.
This complex structure provides blockchain technology with the ability to be the most secure form of storing and sharing information online that we’ve discovered so far. That’s why innovators have begun applying the technology in different sectors to prevent fraud and increase protection of data.
Companies like IBM, General Motors and even NASA have invested in Blockchain technology to save their data and information from floating out. Hackers generally hack the basic devices that connect systems: be it routers, switches, cameras, thermostats or nodes, they are all vulnerable to threats. Statistics suggest that 90% of the cyber attacks due to infected devices connected by IoT.
Hackers can easily access the credentials and data floating between these devices and execute their plan. By using Blockchain, data exchange between various devices can be stopped on a suspicious ground. Even devices can be designed to form networks that stops any node that behaves abnormally. Timely communication between remote devices to pass the message of threat is possible through Blockchain. By creating a decentralized flow of data, it makes it really tough for a hacker to crack in. Its next to impossible to break such high level of security which can block nodes and not give permission for data exchange.
These stats prove that Blockchain is making its mark in the realm of cyber security and slowly envelop enterprises and data flow points on the Internet.
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