Is Block Chain Technology answer to IoT security issue?

Blockchain has been the topic of discussion among technology circles in recent months. Although no one had blockchain on their priority list at the conference of USA `s National Association of State Chief information officers in 2016.But latest survey of CIOs reveals that it is on their priority list this year and they had begun investigating its application in the real world through informal discussions. NASCIO very recently released a report that states blockchain as “next big transformational technology”. Experts even believe it is much more dramatic technology than previously thought that will bring a lot of changes the way things work. Many claim it is even bigger invention then the internet itself”   

For those who don’t know about Blockchain technology, “it is distributed ledger technology that has can be applied to any kind of digital transaction or record that is visible to everyone on the same network.  The whole system is much more secure as it is immutable that means transaction records cannot be altered where each transaction is performed with mutual consensus. Although blockchain technology is considered to be applicable in many different areas it is especially relevant in banking and financial industry. You can learn more about Block Chain technology by clicking here.

On the other hand, IoT (Internet of things) that is the term used network of connected devices will soon become reality, however, security is one of biggest concern that had slowed its progress.  In future we will be living in smart cities, surrounded by smart devices all connected to the internet. According to Cisco, there are 50 billion devices expected to be the part of IoT in 2020. As Blockchain technology offers secure environment will it be able to solve the biggest problem related to (IoT)?

Let`s try to find an answer whether blockchain technology will be able to resolve major security related to the Internet of things (IoT).

It is important to note that unless IoT `s security is improved it's not going to applicable successfully at larger scale.

While looking into recent security-related breaches on IoT and its consequences, implementing IoT devices without a platform that can provide improved security to it can bring the whole internet to its knees. We don’t want to imagine any such situation.  There is growing discussion about blockchain as a platform that can provide security to IoT infrastructure. As discussed earlier why blockchain can be applicable in this context is because the transaction data shared on IoT is not owned by one person nor can be altered unilaterally. So it might be a good idea to share the data rather than storing as in the past. If you are not much aware of how blockchain technology works you must read our blog section where you will find more articles on the introduction of blockchain technology. The bottom line is that no data can be altered in it unless who group allows it and group administrators are no exception to it. In addition to that, it is transparent, all aspects of action in the transaction can be traced, distributed or shared records and required permission at every step.

Our current paradigm is based on a client-server model that is highly unlikely to work with IoT. This is because IoT is relatively complex and variety of “ inter devices connection” will communicate through internet even if they are placed very near to each other.it does not make sense where centralized model enable devices to funnel massive amount of data that in context of decentralized model or peer to peer alternative will be much more efficient and economical.

So that’s where blockchain can offer a better solution as it is a decentralized system.

According to datafloq

“Blockchain technology is the missing link to settle scalability, privacy, and reliability concerns in the Internet of Things. Blockchain technologies could perhaps be the silver bullet needed by the IoT industry. Blockchain technology can be used in tracking billions of connected devices, enable the processing of transactions and coordination between devices; allow for significant savings to IoT industry manufacturers. This decentralized approach would eliminate single points of failure, creating a more resilient ecosystem for devices to run on. The cryptographic algorithms used by blockchains would make consumer data more private.”

So the bottom line is that looking at the challenges faced by IoT and what blockchain technology has on offer we can expect that this technology can be the breakthrough that  IoT industry needed.