By Enterprise Security Magazine | Friday, December 04, 2020
Everything that transpires on the blockchain is encrypted, and it is possible to prove that data has not been changed. Because of its distributed nature, businesses can check file signatures across all the ledgers on all the nodes in the system and confirm that they have not been altered.
FREMONT, CA: Heralded as a chief disruptor for countless industries, undoubtedly, the blockchain offers some potential advantages for the business world. If one is considering adopting it, then they need to take some time to understand its processes and how it can help the business. Firms need a clear strategy and substantial reasons to implement new technology.
Take a look at three ways blockchain can have a positive influence on data security.
1. Blockchain Is Decentralized
As a replacement for uploading data to a cloud server or storing it in a single location, blockchain divides everything into small chunks and sends them across the entire network of computers. It is a digital record of transactions that lacks a central control point. Every computer, or node, has a complete copy of the ledger. Thus one or two nodes going down will not affect any data loss.
It efficiently cuts out the middle man, where there is no need to involve a third-party to process a transaction. One does not have to trust a vendor or service provider when they can rely on a decentralized, immutable ledger.
2. Blockchain Provides Encryption And Validation
Everything that transpires on the blockchain is encrypted, and it is possible to prove that data has not been changed. Because of its distributed nature, businesses can check file signatures across all the ledgers on all the nodes in the system and confirm that they have not been altered. In case if someone does change a record, then the signature is rendered invalid.
This aspect potentially allows one to use the blockchain ledger to validate the data backed up and stored in the cloud with third-party vendors. It confirms if the data has gone entirely unchanged even weeks, months, or years later. Nobody can reject that blockchain provides reliable, independent data verification.
3. Blockchain Is Virtually Impossible To Hack
Even though hackers can break into conventional systems and find all the data in a single repository and exfiltrate it or corrupt it, the blockchain makes this unfeasibly challenging. The data is encrypted, decentralized, and cross-checked by the entire system. Once a transaction is on the ledger, it is almost impossible to modify or remove without it being seen and invalidating the signature.
Multiple nodes on the network establish each legitimate transaction. To effectively hack blockchain, one would have to hack most of the nodes concurrently, which, although technically possible with adequate supercomputing power and time, is well beyond cybercriminals’ capability today.