How Blockchain Changes Nowadays Business Security

Having spread to multiple industries already, blockchain is disrupting the world of business. Here’s how blockchain changes nowadays business security.

The demand for blockchain technology keeps growing. The size of the blockchain technology market worldwide is projected to grow and eventually reach $23.3 billion by 2023:

The number of industries that blockchain has already conquered keeps growing. Deloitte’s 2018 global blockchain survey, which covered different industries, showed a growing interest in introducing blockchain to business.

A response in favor of blockchain for business was received from the representatives of the following industries:

• Automotive industry – 73 percent.
• Energy sector – 72 percent.
• Biotechnology, pharma, and medical devices – 72 percent.
• Financial services – 64 percent.
• Consumer goods & manufacturing – 56 percent.
• Healthcare – 55 percent.

What Do Businesses Expect from Blockchain Technology?

This year, Deloitte’s 2019 global blockchain survey covered the primary reasons why businesses implement blockchain:

• 87% of respondents consider blockchain to implement more “touchless” business processes
• 86% see blockchain as an opportunity to enable new revenue streams
• 82% implement blockchain, as they are worried about staying competitive

However, one of the primary reasons why the interest in blockchain keeps growing is security (with 88% of respondents supporting this claim). Let’s take a closer look at this reason.

What Can Blockchain Offer Businesses in Terms of Security?

Security is in blockchain’s blood.

Blockchain is almost impossible to tamper due to the presence of a hash – a function that enables converting the input of letters and numbers with an encrypted of a fixed length as a result.

A slight change in a hash disrupts the whole chain of blocks, which cannot go unnoticed. As blockchain is built on a distributed ledger system, this means that several parties have access to the same blockchain. Thus, any changes in the blockchain cannot go unnoticed without the authorization of all network members.

Now, let’s take a look at the possibilities that blockchain has already introduced to businesses in terms of security.

Smart Contracts

Businesses are looking for opportunities to secure their data transactions, and smart contracts are the solution they can benefit from.

A smart contract is a code built into a blockchain network and is designed to cut the middleman in all data transactions. Smart contracts in their nature are:

• Immutable – once you’ve created a smart contract, you cannot change it or terminate it. All parties of the blockchain network are bound by this contract and cannot change its terms.
• Distributed – the output of a smart contract is validated by all the nodes in the blockchain network. A single node cannot tamper with the smart contract without others spotting this attempt.

How can businesses benefit from smart contracts?

In the annual real estate market research, Flatfy listed the following benefits of smart contracts for business:

• The detailed description of terms and conditions is the prerequisite to the proper functioning of a smart contract. These details are checked by all the parties bound by this agreement. Moreover, the fact that smart contracts are immutable makes it impossible to change the terms and conditions, thus ensuring complete transparency.
• Any condition that is left out of the smart contract can result in an error during the execution process. Smart contracts are executed automatically and will only be executed if all terms and conditions are precise.
• Because of high transparency, precision, and security, there is no room for manipulation or manual errors, leaving both parties completely satisfied with the results.

Another bonus feature that we can add to these reasons is that smart contracts are paperless and are exist in a digital form only, making them easy to track. Blockchain technology also ensures that all bits of data are copied, so no files and relevant information will go missing.

So, in the world, where all business documentation goes digital, smart contracts save the day, as they ensure transparency and precise execution.

Decentralized Cloud Storage

Blockchain is not only used to enable transparency with smart contracts. This technology plays a crucial role in data storage, revolutionizing the way we keep our data secure from leaks, phishing, and other cybersecurity threats.

We all know about cloud computing and centralized servers like Google Disk and Microsoft Azure. These services allow businesses to get extra infrastructural support and outsource the need for data storage, computing power, and data delivery.

However, blockchain technology brought along a different opportunity – decentralized cloud storage that has a number of advantages that businesses can benefit from:

• Increased privacy and security.

  Decentralized cloud storage uses a process called sharding when all the data is broken into sections and distributed among all the nodes. These shards are encrypted with a private key. Besides, a shard is just a fraction of an original file, making it impossible to access the entire content without authorization.

• Data redundancy.

  This feature helps prevent data loss. Blockchain technology ensures the creation of extra copies, in case an error occurs when this data is transmitted.

• Reduced expenses.

  A decentralized cloud solution costs about 50% less than a centralized server. For instance, StorJ (a decentralized cloud) costs $0.015 GB/month, while its centralized server opponent Microsoft Azure costs $0.030 GB/month.

All these advantages make good reasons why businesses consider implementing a blockchain-based security solution. And, the fact that businesses can spend less money on better security solutions means that this cutting-edge technology will soon outcompete centralized cloud servers.

What Else is in Store?

While smart contracts and decentralized cloud storage are already a reality, there are several blockchain implementation prospects that may come to life in the nearest future.

Among them is private messaging solutions powered by blockchain technology. This solution is crucial for business security, as it encrypts all interactions, creating a system of unified communication.

While most private messaging systems today use end-to-end encryption, which ensures safety but is still far from being completely secure, blockchain-powered private messaging solutions are expected to have higher levels of safety, using distributed ledger technology and sharding to keep the communication secure.

In general, aside from the fact that blockchain technology is still evolving, it already has a lot to offer for businesses in terms of security. While decentralized cloud storage offers high-level data security, smart contracts offer complete transparency and precise execution.

These blockchain-powered technologies have begun to revolutionize the business world.

Avots: readwrite