Cybersecurity is an ongoing problem that has never been fully tackled and provokes enormous revenue loss, which can increase the lack of trust. A path no one wants to go through and to avoid it requires a significant investment to try to handle the cybersecurity situation, and at the same time, it does not assure total secure methods.
Blockchain removes these cybersecurity risks that account for all data moving in the system by validating it using a blockchain to store Checksums of data sent and received. Then a consensus process, together with an abnormality-detection AI, verifies the data consistency and identifies bad actors (bad network, broken sensors, broken hardware/malware).
Blockchain technology provides the solution to the cybersecurity issue due to its immutable nature. The Blockchain is used as immutable data storage so that data that needs to be securely retrieved in the future is stored on the quantum-safe Blockchain. It makes it practically impossible for cybercriminals to access the data without notice; this includes Cryptocurrencies transactions and smart services.
With this in mind, our network, Eden System, has developed quantum-safe tunnels using polymorphic encryption keys and used a blockchain with consensus to verify the data moved between the nodes over the tunnels, thus forming trusted data walled gardens. This creates a constant cybersecurity alert ready for accelerating the Internet of Things (IoT) implementation.
Therefore, the blockchain is a foundational solution that provides a wide variety of products and services with the cybersecurity consistency required. Resulting in a viable solution for IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things), institutions, healthcare services, smart cities and houses, banking, real estate, nations, etc.; the Internet of Everything is ignited to perform all these solutions.
The Internet of Everything can assure a consistent cybersecurity level by implementing blockchain technology inside a well-designed edge computing platform. This removes the need to use the traditional Cloud (Server Farms) infrastructure, which, as we all are aware, has a centralized monolithic approach, making it easier for cybersecurity breaches.
To understand better the security capacity of blockchain technology, let’s look at some major features that help keep the data stored inside the blockchain secure.
· Ledger
· Chain of blocks
· Confidentiality
· Transparency
· Cryptology
· Smart contracts
The ledger's security comes through the capacity to record every transaction in the blockchain; thus, the roster is a blockchain with immutable data in each block. Another aspect that reinforces the security is that the distribution of the ledger goes through all the nodes.
As the blockchain is a chain of blocks, and each block has the previous block's hash value, forming the chain, any correction or alteration will cause a change in the hash value. This will trigger a non-validation with the next block, consequently increasing sensitive data protection.
Confidentiality provides security to the blockchain through permission to only be accessible to users to see authorized transactions.
Blockchain transparency is possible as it shares data added to the blocks with all the nodes, i.e., transactions and ledger state. In addition, it uses consensus algorithms to reach a consensus across all nodes, and at the same time, the consensus algorithm ensures the ordering and execution of the transactions.
Cryptology gives the blockchain immutability and secures transactions using algorithms, creating a fixed hash based on each block's content.
The smart contract is a set of rules delivered by computer code running on top of a blockchain, giving the users the basis they agree to interact with each other. The pre-defined rules must be fulfilled to execute a smart contract; the agreement runs automatically if this is the case. But this automation is not ignited until there is a network consensus.
This adoption of blockchain can provide consistent cybersecurity for all industry verticals, and with the growing IoT devices deployment, even more so. Therefore, with blockchain technology, the opportunity for cyber-criminals or cyberterrorists to access the network and be able to trigger an attack is practically unviable.
It is essential to know that there are various types of blockchain. These come with advantages and disadvantages; there are four types — Public, Private, Federated, and Hybrid blockchains.
Public blockchains are open-source; thus, everyone with an internet connection can access them and use them for digital transactions. As it has no restrictions, all registered users have a copy of the ledger, and the verification process is established through consensuses like Proof of Work (PoW) or Proof of Stake (PoS). The validation is conducted by the participating nodes, which means that if there are not enough validation peers, this type of blockchain becomes non-functional. The advantages that a public blockchain offers include:
· Open-source.
· Trustfulness.
· Incentives.
· Peer-to-peer.
· Security in numbers.
· Transparency.
Some disadvantages of first-generation public blockchains are the transaction speed, scalability, and the consensus methods that use up a lot of energy, e.g., PoW. However, other algorithms like PoS are more efficient. This type of public blockchain is an excellent tool for government voting systems due to its transparency and trust.
Private blockchains are not open source, and to access them, you need permission; therefore, they are restrictive and are operated by an entity. It deviates from the basics of blockchain’s decentralization technology, as it becomes a centralized solution governed by one authoritative entity. Apart from its restrictive nature, once you are a participant of the private blockchain, it follows the same format as a public blockchain, providing transparency, trust, and security. Looking at the advantages private blockchains have, include:
· Speed — As it is a closed network, it takes less time for the participants to reach a consensus, resulting in faster transactions.
· Scalability — Only a few nodes are authorized to validate transactions in a private blockchain. Even if the blockchain grows, it won’t affect the validation process, continuing with the same speed and efficiency.
The downside to private blockchains is the centralized nature that deviates from the core infrastructure of digital ledger technology (DTL). Another essential fact to consider is that its security isn’t as resilient as a decentralized blockchain because the possibility of several nodes compromising the consensus is higher. Therefore, private blockchains are suitable for privately-held companies or organizations, e.g., supply chain management.
Federated or consortium blockchains present a mixture of private and public blockchains, as it gives the possibility of having open source and private aspects. Another factor that identifies this type of blockchain is that it isn’t governed by one entity; instead, it is managed by more than one organization. The functionality’s process is actuated with validator nodes with validation transactions and initiates or receives transactions permissions. In contrast, member nodes cannot validate but do have, receive or initiate transaction permissions. Some advantages of federated or consortium blockchains include:
· Customizable and control over resources efficiency.
· Better security and scalability.
· Well-defined governance structures.
· Access controls.
Disadvantages come through the security because the network can be compromised due to members’ integrity. It is less transparent, regulations and censorship can impact the functionality, and it is also less anonymous. Industry verticals that can make good use of this type of blockchain are banking and payment services, research groups, and food tracking companies.
Hybrid blockchains are the combination of private and public blockchain features, such as having one entity network administrator (private blockchain) and keeping data open to all participants (public blockchain). The difference between the private and public blockchain is that it gives the possibility of keeping certain information confidential for in-house use. Turning to the advantages a hybrid blockchain offers, these include:
· Resilient to 51% attacks.
· Consensus is easily modified.
· Scalability ease.
Among the disadvantages of a hybrid blockchain, we can indicate that the trust can be low due to its centralized governance. Another issue comes when choosing to adopt or switch to a hybrid blockchain and form a distributed ledger system, as it can be a complex procedure. If the incentives are absent, this can result in external contributors not being sufficiently motivated to keep the system operational. Hybrid blockchains are suitable for real estate companies, where they can run their system and use public features to show information to the public.
After presenting the different security features and the various blockchains, we introduce our blockchain usage inside our IoE Eden System. Our Eden System is based on a decentralized model that gives ease of use for scalable device clustering to add new devices as nodes, giving these the capacity to contribute computing resources over an intelligent mesh network. This implementation permits computing to happen where needed and close to where it will be used.
To acquire security solutions for today and the future, IoE Eden System was developed to use quantum-safe tunnels using polymorphic encryption keys. Uses a blockchain with consensus to verify the data moved between the nodes over the tunnels, thus creating trusted data walled gardens. The Eden blockchain’s network consensus is a deciding mechanism through service manifests describing services rules, policies, and logic for the orchestration of computing and storage. Generating the management of the underlying orchestration by an autonomous knowledge-based AI.
The implementation of our IoE Eden blockchain offers security benefits like detecting malware trying to replicate itself to other nodes. This security solution is possible because verifying data traffic is processed between nodes over the blockchain; thus, malware can be detected and the infected node identified.
Learn more about our blockchain usage for your cybersecurity by contacting our expert team or reading our Cyber Strategy Planning. IoE Corp’s Eden System is an innovative approach built to help the acceleration of IoT devices deployment through the Internet of Everything orchestration, a human-first technology ready for today's and future needs. With capabilities to suit all industry verticals, like aerospace and defense, automotive, infrastructure, government, healthcare, construction, etc.
