Blockchain is distributed ledger technology. The premise of blockchain is that everyone involved in the chain has the same version of the truth at the same time. Each block in the chain builds on the previous and each has a unique identifier.
Blockchain technology is finding its way into more and more areas of global business, yet the use of blockchain in the world of cyber security is still nascent. Many of the most developed use cases involve financial transactions.
However, due to the inherent security attributes of decentralised, redundant ledgers, hashing/encryption, and other privacy-preserving techniques used by blockchains, security-related applications are also significant. Early forays have focused on identity, data, and the internet of things (IoT).
Identity and access management focuses on validating that someone is who they claim to be, a fact that attackers are keenly aware of when they target the credentials of privileged users in an organisation, such as systems administrators or C-level executives, to gain access to key digital assets.
A blockchain-based system could be used to track identities, entitlements, entitlement assignment, and access events, with any attempts at change, such as the security think dismiss blockchain cyber security computerweekly
