Ways Blockchain Is Revolutionizing Cybersecurity

It's no secret that we are dealing with a lot of cyber attacks, and that black hat hackers cause serious damages in almost every industry imaginable. One of the most commonly cited predictions for cybersecurity in 2018 is an increased number of attacks—and a dire need for better security.

Truth be told, the overall look of cybersecurity is one that appears pretty grim. Mega-breaches like the Equifax breach disaster are more likely to happen than ever before, and worse still, they now hold more power to turn a person's life upside down.

Blockchain technology has long been heralded as one of the best advances in cybersecurity, and that's not an unfair statement, either. When you take into accounts all the ways blockchain is revolutionizing cybersecurity, you'll understand why experts agree on that matter.

To fully understand the ways blockchain is revolutionizing cybersecurity, we need to discuss what blockchain is.

Blockchain is a special coding technique that creates a decentralized ledger that automatically updates itself every time a transaction takes place using its code. The cool thing about blockchain is that it's both decentralized and public—and in most cases, can also still remain highly private.

Blockchain also can utilize a bunch of different features that make it a good tool for cybersecurity experts, including smart contracts and Proof-of-Work. So, knowing that, we can tall about all the features that make blockchain a boon to those who want internet safety boosted.

The most obvious perk is that a public, decentralized ledger is extremely difficult to alter.

What makes blockchain such a revolutionary technique is that it maintains privacy but also maintains a public ledger that remains very difficult to manually change.

In the past, a hacker could simply access a computer that had the information and change it to their whims. There would not really be much evidence of the breach at all, because the hacker would basically be acting as an admin in the system.

Everything involving transactions is automated in a blockchain, so if you have it passing through a middle person, it'll be visible. The decentralization in blockchain means that you can't really access a "back end" without the code picking up on it and registering it.

The decentralization makes it impossible to even be affected by DDOS attacks, too. Bottom line? Classic hacking techniques won't work.

Having a public ledger also makes attacks way more traceable, if they do happen.

Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to trace blockchain. In fact, law enforcement officials have even traced Bitcoin transactions using their own work. While the transactions themselves may be impossible to intercept, tracing where the transactions started is not.

One of the ways blockchain is revolutionizing cybersecurity is by remaining traceable. Imagine being able to figure out exactly who stole your credit card information, and you'll understand why this is such a huge deal.

Some companies are already using blockchain to detect and stop real-time cyberattacks.

For example, blockchain heavy hitter Guardtime has been using the technology to create a new mechanism called a Keyless Signature Infrastructure. This is an upgraded, more secure version of the classic Keyless Signature Infrastructure.

By removing the need for a centralized Certificate Authority, cyberattacks become easier to detect and foil. Right now, Guardtime uses this technology to keep all of Estonia's health records secure.

The Certificate Authority used to be the cornerstone of cybersecurity on the net, and now, this is no longer the case. This is one of the most powerful ways blockchain is revolutionizing cybersecurity, but definitely not the only one.

Another one of the more visible ways blockchain is revolutionizing cybersecurity is the elimination of passwords.

Passwords have been the be-all and end-all of cybersecurity for decades—and the problem is, they're easy to overcome. Most people have had their passwords stolen at least once, and the truth is that you can even guess a person's password fairly reliably.

All those classic internet safety tips might go the way of the dodo, though, thanks to blockchain technology. REMME uses blockchain to remove the need for a password. REMME creates SSL certificates for individual devices, and embeds them into the blockchain.

Hackers can't fake certificates or brute force passwords when there's no password, no centralized force can have a data breach, and all SSL certificates are built into the blockchain. As a result, there's no centralized ledger to attack, and most of the classic hacker techniques become obsolete.

Smart contracts can also help bolster verification.

Smart contracts are prewritten conditions that have to be met before a transaction happens. This automates a lot of authentication, but also allows cybersecurity experts to maintain a human side to the transaction if necessary.

So, while blockchain does allow a lot of transparency and automation, cybersecurity groups can add a human layer of verification using smart contracts if it's necessary.

Blockchain is a self-defending technology, and most of the ways blockchain is revolutionizing cybersecurity get traced back to that...

Along with having excellent encryption capabilities, blockchain technology has automated ways to protect itself that we've already talked about. It's decentralized, tamper-proof, and in the case that someone *does* alter the chain, will instruct itself to ignore affected blocks.

If you really think about it, blockchain is the first kind of technology that is programmed to defend itself against attacks and can eliminate most classic hacker techniques. That alone is revolutionary, when you think about it, isn't it?