Cyber Security, Blockchain, and ethics

Resources

Blockchain

People use the term “blockchain technology” to mean different things, and it can be confusing. Sometimes they are talking about the Bitcoin blockchain, sometimes it’s the Ethereum blockchain, sometimes it’s other virtual currencies or digital tokens, sometimes it’s smart contracts. Most of the time, though, they are talking about distributed ledgers, i.e., a list of transactions replicated across a number of computers, rather than being stored on a central server.

The common themes seem to be a data store that:

· usually contains financial transactions

· is replicated across a number of systems in almost real-time

· usually exists over a peer-to-peer network

· uses cryptography and digital signatures to prove identity, authenticity, and enforce read/write access rights

· can be written by certain participants

· can be read by certain participants, maybe a wider audience, and

· has mechanisms to make it hard to change historical records, or at least make it easy to detect when someone is trying to do so

Blockchain and Cybersecurity

Blockchain in the context of cybersecurity attempts to mitigate the weakest link—the human. Some of the earliest attempts to use the blockchain in cybersecurity is in the context of privacy. Consider something as simple as a messaging application. There is a private sector organization called Obsidian that recently developed a secure messenger using blockchain technology. Other uses of the blockchain attempt to render username and passwords for authentication obsolete. Some have even posited that blockchain will provide a means to secure the internet of things (IoT), which we well know has limited cybersecurity mechanisms.

It is important to understand that blockchain is not the panacea of cybersecurity. It is a means to strengthen and evolve current defensive measures.

Blockchain is a term used to describe a decentralized ledger. In essence, it is a grouping of records that ensure integrity and confidentiality through hashing and cryptography. Each grouping is considered to be a “block.” Each block contains a time stamp and data of the previous transaction in the form of a cryptographic hash (Mearian, 2018).

Thus, every time a transaction in the context of its application occurs, the blockchain grows. The blockchain is continuously growing as new blocks (transactions) occur. 

One of the seminal works on blockchain is included in the video content below (Institute for the Future, 2016):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r43LhSUUGTQ&feature=youtu.be

Blockchain has received a lot of attention, mostly by creators and users of cryptocurrencies. However, there are many more applications of this technology waiting to be discovered. The cybersecurity field has already begun to implement some solutions to challenges that require integrity and confidentiality.

References

Institute for the Future. (2016). Understand the blockchain in two minutes [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r43LhSUUGTQ

Mearian, L. (2018, May 31). What is blockchain? The most disruptive tech in decades. https://www.computerworld.com/article/3191077/security/what-is-blockchain-the-most-disruptive-tech-in-decades.html

Ethics In Cybersecurity

Ethics in cybersecurity research and practice | Elsevier Enhanced Reader

Macnish, K., & Ham, J. van der. (2020, September 9). Ethics in Cybersecurity Research and Practice. Technology in Society. Retrieved April 29, 2022, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X19306840