Blockchain for Cybersecurity_ Pros and Cons, Trending Use Cases

Cyber security refers to the process of safeguarding computer systems and networks against malicious cyber attacks. These cyber-attacks are done to steal money or private information by gaining unauthorized access to, altering, or destroying digital data. 

As more and more of our lives grow dependent on digital information and transactions, it is crucial that we hire developers to ensure their safety. Will adding a blockchain to your solutions make them more secure? 

Blockchain technology shows promise as a means of ensuring the safety of sensitive information, communications, and even whole infrastructures. However, there is a cost to the blockchain’s enhanced security.

This blog delves into the basics of blockchain security and examines how the blockchain may affect the integrity of various solutions.

Blockchain: Overview

A blockchain is a distributed database that records every transaction ever made in a peer-to-peer system. Time stamps are used to compile records of transactions that are then linked together in cryptographically secure, chronologically ordered chains of blocks with backlinks. 

These blocks are trusted and safe, and the transaction data they contain is immutable. Through the use of blockchain technology, all participants in a blockchain network may view each and every transaction that has ever taken place inside the network.

Fundamental Pillars Of Blockchain Security

The very nature of a blockchain makes it decentralized and transparent. It employs participant consensus and the most recent cryptographic advancements. Therefore, blockchain-based solutions are more secure than traditional alternatives. There are three main pillars upon which the security of blockchain technology rests:

1.  Confidentiality

This refers to the process of restricting access to sensitive information so that only those who need it may see it. Data stored in a blockchain can be fully encrypted to protect it from prying eyes while it travels through insecure networks. 

Applications should have their own security mechanisms, such as access controls, to prevent assaults from within the network. By leveraging public key infrastructure for user authentication and data encryption, blockchain technology may deliver superior safety measures. 

However, there is a significant danger of private keys being stolen if they are stored as a backup in a secondary location. The implementation of key management processes like IETF or RFC and cryptographic techniques based on integer factorization issues might help prevent this.

2.  Integrity

Blockchain’s inherent immutability and traceability feature aid businesses in protecting sensitive information. Furthermore, companies can benefit from consensus model protocols that aid in the implementation of procedures to avoid and regulate ledger splitting in the case of a cyber control assault. 

Blockchain stores the prior state of the system with each subsequent iteration, making the whole history of the system completely auditable. Data mining may be avoided if parties use smart contracts to validate and enforce restrictions before sharing any data.

3.  Availability

Attacks against technological systems that use distributed denial of service strategies have increased in frequency and severity in recent years. DDoS assaults are expensive in blockchain-based systems because the attacker must try a large number of very insignificant transactions to overwhelm the system.

Since blockchains don’t have a central processing unit, they’re more resistant to disruption from IP-based DDoS attacks. Full copies of the ledger can be viewed at all times since data is replicated across several nodes. The distributed nature of the platforms and systems, in addition to the presence of several nodes, increases their reliability.

Pros of Using Blockchain in Cybersecurity

1.  User confidentiality

In a Blockchain network, users’ anonymity is protected by public key cryptography.

2.  Accessibility and authenticity of data

You can always go back and look at the record of past dealings since they are recorded and kept. Participants of the Blockchain network digitally sign the transaction data, ensuring its authenticity and integrity.

3.  Privacy-preserving data processing and archiving

A key benefit of blockchain technology is the immutability of data and the audit trails it provides of any modifications made to the data.

4.  No isolated breakdowns

Due to the distributed nature of blockchains, the failure of a single node does not compromise the integrity of the entire network. As a result, the system remains secure even during DDoS assaults since many copies of ledgers are kept. Private blockchains do not have this benefit.

5.  Sending information securely

Blockchain’s use of a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) ensures that data transfers remain legitimate. During a transfer, smart contracts facilitate the automatic implementation of agreements made by the parties involved.

Cons of Using Blockchain in Cybersecurity

1.  Dependence on private keys

Due to their irretrievable nature, misplaced private keys are a major problem for blockchains because they are used to encrypt data. If this happens, it might mean permanently losing access to any encrypted data.

2.  Problems with scalability and adaptability

It is crucial to verify the scalability of a blockchain network due to its predetermined block volume and constraints on transactions per second. Companies may have trouble integrating Blockchain technology since it needs a full replacement of existing systems.

3.  High operational expenses

Large amounts of computation and storage space are needed for blockchain. As a result, the expenses of using Blockchain-based apps rise above those of conventional ones.

4.  Governance failure

Currently, there are no international guidelines for the implementation of blockchain technology. Keeping governance in Blockchain applications requires the creation of regulations and guidelines.

5.  Knowledge of blockchain

Getting up to speed with Blockchain technology calls for an in-depth familiarity with a wide range of development, scripting languages, and other resources. As a result, there is a current shortage of Blockchain developers despite the widespread use of this technology.

Trending Use Cases Of Blockchain In Cybersecurity

1.  IoT security

A key worry with the expanding use of AI and IoT has always been the vulnerability of sensitive data and infrastructure to cyber-attacks. One possible use of Blockchain for preserving IoT cybersecurity is the use of device-to-device encryption to safeguard data transmission, key management, and authentication.

2.  The integrity of software downloads

In order to safeguard devices from being infected by malicious software, blockchain technology may be used to validate updates and installers. In this case, hashes are stored in the blockchain and new software identities may be checked against the hashes to ensure download legitimacy.

3.  Data transmission protection

Encryption is used to prevent snooping on data while it is in transit.

4.  Distributed storage of sensitive information

Blockchain-based storage options assist in the pursuit of decentralized storage, securing digital information at a time when its volume is growing at an exponential rate.

5.  Mitigating DDoS Attacks

DDoS assaults, in which hackers try to produce a torrent of Internet traffic in order to disrupt the flow of services, are among the most common kind of cyber attacks used today. Blockchain’s cryptographic qualities and its inherent invulnerability to tampering make it an ideal antidote to such threats.

6.  DNS safety

Like a public directory, the Domain Name System (DNS) correlates IP numbers with domain names. Time and again, hackers have tried to get into the Domain Name System (DNS) in order to crash websites by exploiting these vulnerabilities. The DNS may be kept with greater security because of Blockchain’s immutability and decentralized systems.

Conclusion

Due to its secure data encryption processes, data integrity, network resilience, and scalability, the blockchain has excellent potential for keeping data in a secure environment, but along with secure data protection it comes with a lot of complexity as it is a fairly new technology and at times there arise complex problems which are not easy to solve and one has to hire dedicated programmer who is proficient in this field as a business cannot compromise on security That’s why businesses of all stripes may stand to benefit from making the transition to a blockchain-based system.

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Reddit
Telegram