Most people are (rightly) concerned with cybersecurity these days as cyber-attacks rise and criminals use increasingly sophisticated methods of trying to extort details from website users. It sometimes seems like there’s a new kid on the crypto block every other day offering security advice and methods to keep your details safe.
Blockchain is one of those - but this time it’s different. Here’s an explainer on why it could offer real security benefits.
New kid on the blockchain
What is blockchain, then? Well, it’s a fairly new form of tech that was created to support Bitcoin. However, it’s started to gain traction and get noticed - creating a lot of discussion amongst investors and tech geeks, especially now it’s been noted that its potential goes way beyond simply supporting cryptocurrency.
So, if you’re looking to start making investments in cryptocurrency from trusted sources like Cryptosoho or other vendors then you must protect yourself and blockchain is one way of doing so.
With its rise in popularity, there are questions raised about how good it can be - how safe it is and how long before it starts to develop issues.
How does blockchain work?
It’s known as a distributed ledger technology (DLT). What happens is that blockchains get copied and then distributed throughout a large network of computer systems and they allow access to any members who are chosen to record, share, and view encrypted transactional data on that particular blockchain.
It stores data in groups, which are called ‘blocks’. Each of these blocks contains a certain amount of information and once that particular block gets to capacity it gets connected to the previous full block - which is why it’s called Blockchain.
So basically it offers a complete risk management system for networks and it brings together assurance services, cybersecurity, and all the best practices that are used to negate any risks of fraud and cyber-attacks.
How secure is blockchain?
Very is the answer. The structure of its data is inherently secure - and this is because they are firmly based on three principles which are:
Consensus
Cryptography
Decentralization
As mentioned, because every new block of data that is created automatically connects to the previous one it makes it nigh on impossible to breach.
Also, any transactions are validated and affirmed by the use of something called a ‘consensus mechanism’ - all the authorized users - and this guarantees that each transaction is legal and true. It means there is no point of failure and nobody can change transaction records.
Why it’s the gold standard in security
Well, if there are any attempts to hack into a ledger or disturb data, it can be very easily traced back to a hacker and they’ll instantly lose access to the network. The process becomes quicker and simpler.
Any brand new transactions that are tagged onto a blockchain are done o via a process known as ‘minting’ and the systems used for this have some shared properties.
Every block has a unique address.
Each new block ends up completing a sequence of data blocks and this goes back to the very first block created.
Data encryption ensures that each block is secure and cannot be altered.
There are only a couple of ways to disrupt a blockchain system and both of them would require a huge amount of computer power, or require existing tokens - which is again, likely to put potential hackers off trying.
Blockchains are not unbreakable or subject to hackers, it’s highly unlikely anything will ever be 100% hack proof, however, it’s very difficult and takes time to do so - which is likely to put criminals off and that’s what makes this system more secure than many others.
