The Company Taking Cyber Security By Storm And Why Blockchain Should Take Note
Our world is developing faster than most of us can keep up with, and blockchain is no exception. Despite being a pretty new development itself, blockchain is constantly threatened by changes in the cybersecurity landscape. In today’s blog, we’re taking a look at one of the latest phenomena to threaten the world of cybersecurity, and the company with a solution that might just save us all.
What is blockchain?
As you may or may not know, blockchain is a type of data storage system through which data is stored in ‘blocks’. This data can be practically anything, from payment history (as is often the case in the world of cryptocurrency) to the details of vehicles in a transport company’s fleet. Data is added into a block in chronological order until the block is full. Once full, another block is started, which is then attached to the previous block (also in chronological order) to form a ‘chain’ – hence the name!
Blockchain makes it easy for a user to find the data they are looking for because they can search through the data in chronological order. Each block is time-stamped to the exact millisecond it was closed and added to the chain, making the whole process pretty smooth.
What makes blockchain so safe?
Whilst it is easy to find the information you’re looking for, it is also incredibly difficult to edit or delete data from a blockchain. That’s because, when one computer (or ‘node’) attempts to change or remove something in a blockchain, all of the other ‘nodes’ (or computers) with access to that blockchain will notice the change. As long as at least 51% of the nodes with access to that chain had recorded the same original data, the nodes would work together to correct or replace the changed data.
This makes it pretty difficult for any potential hackers because they would have to access more than half of the ‘nodes’ in control of that blockchain at the exact same time and make the exact same change in order to access it. In addition, the majority of blockchains are ‘decentralised’, meaning that all of the nodes with access to them are stored in different geographical locations. This makes it even harder and more costly for hackers to access them.
What makes blockchain so valuable?
Blockchain is extremely valuable because it has applications across a huge range of industries, from healthcare to politics. Here are just a few of its uses…
In banking and finance, blockchain can facilitate instant and borderless payments. The system helps to cut out the ‘middleman’, making the whole process cheaper, faster, and safer.
In operations, blockchain can provide a transparent and secure way of recording operational information without the disclosure of any private information. Because no human being actually has to input or receive the information (it is automatically saved into the blockchain), it is much harder for interceptions to occur and much less likely that any private information will be leaked. It also removes the possibility of human error, so ensures the data stored is 100% accurate.
So, what’s the problem?
Hold onto your hats, because this is a big one.
Something is coming that will literally tear the security of our blockchain haven into pieces, and it’s called “quantum computing”.
Quantum computers are essentially enormous, very complicated, and very intelligent computers. Thanks to some clever technology (which we will delve into in the ‘quantum computing’ section below), they can consider any amount of information simultaneously, making them up to 158 million times faster than the world’s fastest supercomputer.
These computers will have the power to destroy some of the cryptographic principles behind blockchain. They will also be fast enough to undermine the process of blockchain management completely, rendering the whole concept pretty much useless.
What is a Quantum Computer?
Whilst an ordinary computer works by using ‘bits’ (tiny switches that can either be ‘on’ or ‘off’), a quantum computer uses qubits. Rather than just being on or off, qubits can also be in what’s called ‘superposition’ – where they’re both on and off at the same time, or neither, or somewhere between the two. This is a bit like spinning a coin on its edge. It isn’t heads and it isn’t tails, but it is kind of both, or neither, or somewhere in the middle. That is until it lands or “collapses” and falls into one or the other.
Normal computers, and even supercomputers, decode encrypted data by sifting through it all using one potential “key” (or password) at a time. However, thanks to ‘superposition’, quantum computers can run through multiple potential keys at the same time, meaning they can decrypt data exponentially faster than other computers. Data that would take a normal computer hundreds of years to decode could take a quantum computer a matter of seconds…
Sources:
https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/01/29/66141/what-is-quantum-computing/
What Is The Solution?
As the title of this blog suggests, there is a solution out there.
A UK-based company called Arqit has developed a ‘quantum safe’ cyber security solution, known as “quantum encryption”. This new type of encryption completely randomises the data it sends out to prevent quantum computers from finding an encryption pattern (or “key”).
Interested? The company’s ”unbreakable” encryption techniques are available right here, right now.
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