Blockchain: Breakthrough or Bust?

Blockchain is emerging as one of the hottest cybersecurity and information-sharing solutions being talked about now, but is all its promise in the fact that it is the latest craze to hit the market and people want to be compliant or is it a breakthrough waiting to happen?

As with most things in life, it’s a little of both.

Let’s first start with the positives. 

• The core idea of blockchain is a great concept because it has made people start thinking about security more seriously. Let’s be honest, most companies are simply playing lip service to security. “Yes of course our systems are secure;” “We use the latest security systems;” “We employ the most up to date security systems and policies…” But really, the word security has been used as an excuse not to go in to details or to throw off blame and recrimination. However, blockchain has piqued the interest of many consumers – they are asking their companies about blockchain and how it could impact their environment. Simply put, whether buzz or not, blockchain is making people think more seriously about how their data is being managed. 
• Another area that blockchain has some very promising benefits is in the cryptocurrency sector where you have an open network of millions of transactions. In basic terms, blockchain enables a single version of transactional truth: an unchangeable, universally visible ledger that creates its own audit trail, decreasing the possibility of backdoor transactions that most digital currencies face. Essentially, it can easily and privately move and store digital transactions securely, and the more widespread the network, the more difficult blockchain makes it to tinker with the data.

With that being said, it is too soon to tout blockchain as the end all be all to our security woes. There are still several areas that need to be addressed.

• Too many people are jumping on the bandwagon and hype of blockchain. People are looking at it as the only mechanism and not looking at what the actual security issue is. It is a great tool for helping the security of transactions and making sure transactions are secure, but it won’t secure up the end databases. Blockchain focuses on securing the external world and exchanges but it does not look at the underlying security of the data.
• Users put a lot of trust into the fact that these digital currency exchanges based on blockchain have the right security protocols in place, yet time and time again they have been shown that they are not safe and your money could easily be stolen.
• There are no regulations or reimbursement structures in place yet. When blockchain and cryptocurrencies experience security issues, whose ownership is it under to cover customers in the event of a breach? There is still a lot that remains unsettled when it comes to regulation statuses, and there are no current rules around offering insurance on digital currencies. The way blockchain based-transaction are set up now, no one will step in to help and that is too great a risk to have the public exposed to.

While there are both advantages and disadvantages to blockchain, one thing is clear: as an industry, we need to look at all the solutions available, not just lay all of our eggs in one, and find ways to secure our information end-to-end and not just settle for the solutions that are hot for the moment. So stay-tuned and let's see where the blockchain buzz goes.