Cybersecurity: The focus needs to be on people

The beauty of blockchain is its decentralisation which promises that it’s impossible to attack a weakness if there are multiple copies of the blockchain distributed across a network of nodes.  However, Emin Gün Sirer, from Cornell University, has shown that Bitcoin and Ethereum aren’t as decentralised as we might hope.

Although blockchain has been hailed as tamperproof it’s hardly the ‘truth engine’ that is beyond the reach of cybercriminals or hackers.  By design blockchain cannot be hacked, but its weakness is often at the point where its systems connect with the real world in software or applications. Exchanges that hold and transact cryptocurrentcy in e-wallets can be hacked and have been.  Since 2014 over $1.4 billion worth of crypto currency has been stolen from exchanges by hackers.  Some of the targets include popular crypto trading brands such as Coincheck & MT Go& BitGrail.

51% attacks, which for a long time were discussed as a theorical threat, have become real and this year several cryptocurrencies have fallen victim.  Also known as a majority attack, a 51% attack occurs when a malicious miner gains control of over 50% of the blockchain network’s hashrate, enabling them to reverse transactions, halt payments, or prevent new transactions from confirming.  A 51% attack is not easy to pull off and requires a sizeable amount of computing and therefore a large amount of electricity to accomplish.  The constructions of data mines, some in China which have been built near dams to benefit from cheap electricity, could become the Achilles Heel of blockchain.

How can companies apply the cybersecurity lessons we’ve learned to ensure that blockchain delivers on its promise of a secure decentralised public record?  The clue is to focus on the people.

Cybersecurity has become mainstream and it’s no longer activity carried out by an isolated hacker working maliciously out of their bedroom for thrills.

Organised criminals have spotted the potential rewards and, as well as targeting cyber currency in the modern-day equivalent of a bank heist, they are now hacking for data. Data is what drives everything and it’s what the hacker wants because they can sell it or threaten to share it, blackmailing the organisation for financial gain.  The organised hackers have their eyes set on big targets, beyond the quick win access to a bank account some are looking to impact the international political landscape.

Source: Press coverage in GDPR:REPORT – read full article.