Blockchain Is a Game-Changer in Cybersecurity

in #cybersecurity6 years ago

cyber steemit.jpg

Have you heard that in 2018 the damage from cybercrime was estimated at $600 billion? Since 2014, it has grown by 20%. This cybercrime pressure stimulates both regular users and businesses to adopt new anti-hacking methods. One of them is brought about by blockchain.

This post shows the three most popular types of cybersecurity threats, and how blockchain can be used to prevent them.

Direct-Access Attacks

What Is It About?

Direct-access attacks assume hacking an entire system or its particular part directly. The most widespread method to do this is by using unauthorized programs such as worms and keyloggers.

To prevent these attacks, it’s possible to use antiviruses, firewalls, or intrusion detection prevention systems (IDS/IPS).

How Blockchain Helps

Its inherent decentralization makes blockchain effective against direct-access attacks. To hack blockchain-based software, hackers would have to access all of the chain’s nodes simultaneously, which is rather difficult, if not altogether impossible.

The second way blockchain addresses this type of attacks is through data encryption. It makes data access impossible for unauthorized users, and thus prevents its exploitation in someone’s interests.

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attacks

What Is It About?

Flooding a system with a massive incoming traffic using plenty of unique IP addresses is called a DDoS attack. The difficulty in preventing such an attack is in the lack of tools to distinguish legitimate users from those who are not. It happens since DDoS hackers are likely to forge IP addresses.

The first option to prevent a DDoS attack is to use cloud-based web servers. They are resilient and can provide resources for as much traffic as required.

The second option is to call a professional cybersecurity team mitigating DDoS attacks. Unfortunately, if you don’t use cloud-based web servers, it’s almost impossible to overcome a DDoS attack without relying on third parties.

How Blockchain Helps

First of all, data decentralization eliminates any chance of a DDoS attack. It works the same as with direct-access attacks. The hacking of decentralized software would take breaking all the nodes simultaneously, and the associated costs are plain astronomical.

The other option to prevent a DDoS attack is rate limiting. Let’s see how it works in the example of the genEOS blockchain environment. The blockchain participants are allowed to do as many simultaneous transactions as many tokens they own. If they exceed the limits, the ecosystem may charge a fee. It makes DDoS attacks cost-inefficient. This protection method is available for any genEOS-based decentralized apps (Dapps), too.

Spoofing

What Is It About?

One of the most widespread types of cyber attacks is spoofing, i.e. illegitimate access to a system by forging a user identity. Using stolen credentials is one of such examples.

Standard credentials are easy to hack. A public key infrastructure (PKI) allows overcoming associated shortcomings. It works in the following way. The person who wants to keep his or her data secret issues two keys. One key is public — it is needed to encrypt the data incoming to this person. The other key is private, used by that person to decrypt the received data.

To be sure that the public key is associated with this particular person, a certificate authority (CA) approves the validity of the key by issuing a digital certificate. In case of a CA’s failure, data security gets under fire.

How Blockchain Helps

Being an immutable digital ledger at its core, blockchain can replace CAs in PKIs. This is possible because a certain blockchain’s participants will act as witnesses to each transaction. In the case of genEOS, there are 21 members needed to approve any record. This protects its PKI from failing.

Outcome

Inherent decentralization allows blockchain to prevent both direct-access and DDoS attacks. Data encryption makes illegitimate access nearly impossible. In addition, acting as an immutable ledger, blockchain can replace third parties within a PKI. This all makes blockchain-based software resistant to cybersecurity threats at a completely new level.

Sort:  

Congratulations @geneosio! You have completed the following achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

Award for the number of upvotes received

Click on the badge to view your Board of Honor.
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:
SteemitBoard and the Veterans on Steemit - The First Community Badge.

Do you like SteemitBoard's project? Then Vote for its witness and get one more award!