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A lot has been made of the blockchain recently. Not just because it is the technology used to
fuel the thousands of cryptocurrencies there are now, but because the distributed nature of the
technology has become the model for many new technological strategies. There are plans to
use blockchain technology to do a great many things, but one element where blockchain can
help immediately is for cybersecurity. Today we’ll take a look at the blockchain and why it may
be the key to the future of network and cybersecurity.
The Genesis Block
When the Internet was finally taking off in the early 1990s, there were many detractors who said
that it was a fad. There was an article written for Newsweek by astronomer Clifford Stoll that
was titled, “Why the Web Won’t Be Nirvana”. You see, in 1995, the Internet wasn’t the tool you
think of today. It was a brand-new technology without the breadth of website and application
development that has made it into the virtual world that it is now. In the first paragraph he wrote:
Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries, and multimedia
classrooms. They speak of electric town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce
and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom
of digital networks will make government more democratic.Baloney…
23 years later, except for making government more democratic, it all happened, leaving a
once-cynical Stoll to say, “Of my many mistakes, flubs, and howlers, few have been as public as
my 1995 howler… Now, whenever I think I know what’s happening, I temper my thoughts: Might
be wrong, Cliff…”
So when looking at the potential uses for blockchain, it should be understood that the
technology is still very much nascent; and, has its detractors.
A contributing writer for Forbes, Frances Coppola, took down the technology in an 2016 article
starting the article with, “I’m fed up with the hype around blockchain. It’s not rocket science, it’s
not revolutionary and it’s not even that smart. And it’s not going to change the world.” She goes
on to talk about how it’s just a stripped-down payments system and that since it does not
fundamentally change the way payments work, that it’s just slightly more convenient, but doesn’t
eliminate the need to trust the vendor and or customer.
There are hundreds of potential applications for blockchain, and if Coppola is right, the $1.3
billion in venture capital blockchain-related technologies have garnered so far in 2018 alone
suggests that some of the most risk-averse investors in the world are investing money in a
burgeoning technology that will produce faulty applications. More likely, however, that like Stoll,
the one part of the equation she hasn’t taken into account is the human ingenuity necessary to
make technology like this into viable applications.
Another Block In the Chain
With data increasingly becoming a premium asset, and cyberattacks more prevalent and
targeted than ever, organizations of all types are attempting to find a solution that could stave
off bad actors and create a secure environment for data. Blockchain is increasingly being
considered as the technology that will produce the type of security tools needed by every
organization.
Blockchain has the potential to do just that, and that’s why you are seeing the kind of VC
investment that you are. Since the technology can already provide consensus, and is by nature
immutable, cybersecurity developers are trying to ascertain how to use these properties to
improve cyber defense. Industry leaders have identified how blockchain can provide users and
systems with confidentiality, integrity, and availability, but haven’t completely figured out the
particulars yet. Let’s take a look at what these cybersecurity professionals are doing.
Preventing Cyber Attacks
Hackers have long been a thorn in the side of IT administrators because once they are in, they
can shut down networks, tamper and steal data, trick people into handing over sensitive data,
assume other people’s identities, and become an overall nuisance to any organization
unfortunate enough to be targeted by them. Blockchain presents some pretty stark benefits that
cybersecurity professionals have stated could be leveraged to keep bad actors from infiltrating
networks and stealing data. Here are a few of them:
While blockchain may only turn out to be a flash-in-the-pan technology that allowed for
cryptocurrency to exist, it may just be one of the most important technologies that has ever been
invented. Only time will see how human ingenuity will be able to innovate from the blockchain
we have today. If you are looking for more information about blockchain and how it may just be
the technology that will bring security to computing networks all over the world, visit Infradapt.com today!
