Page 35 - Cyber Warnings

2016 was, as some would say, the year of the hacker, if there were Oscars given out for this
then Ransomware would have taken home quite a few golden statues!

With Blockchain and the distributed nature of the data, hacking could be up against a defence
that’s stronger than Anthony Joshua’s right hook.

No longer would hackers be able to just infiltrate one system, they would have to gain access to
every single database simultaneously, and despite how this would be portrayed in Hollywood,
it’s going to be much harder to do in the real world.

Also, the data within a Blockchain cannot be converted back, it’s a one way process which
keeps the blocks being built upon.

Therefore if there was a change to the data, the digital signature changes, alerting the entire
network and users to the anomaly. Enter Sherlock Holmes who would be able to figure out who
made the change, when it was made and why.

There are already a couple of companies who are focussing around Blockchain and encryption
technologies.

Most notably, in my experience, a company called Guardtime who have helped Estonia to
realign a great deal of sensitive data for the country’s occupants.

Back in 2007, Estonia experienced their biggest hack, a believed state-sponsored attack (still
yet to be confirmed!) that used DDoS attacks to swamp Estonian organisation websites,
affecting commercial banks, telecommunication companies and media outlets.

Once the entire nation felt the impact, the government decided to do something about it and
bring their infrastructure security back up to scratch.

Now seen to be one of the leading countries for Cyber Security, Estonian organisations started
partnering with Guardtime, helping them to secure sensitive data through their keyless signature
infrastructure.

Last year they secured 1 million health records for the eHealth Foundation and have been able
to provide real-time detection within critical infrastructures.

Security of Blockchain

Clearly, Blockchain can provide encryption, it can help to identify anomalies within a chain
network, can alert the users of any malpractice, but can it become the king of security.

Along with Blockchain, the next emerging technologies will be Big Data and the Internet of
Things.

35 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine February 2017 Edition
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