The Blockchain and the Future of Cybersecurity

The Blockchain and the
Future of Cybersecurity
6 August 2017

Introduction
 Jason Cuneo
 West Point, 1998, B.S. Electrical Engineering
 U.S. Army Officer, 1998 – 2004
 UAH, 2006, M.S. Electrical Engineering
 Auburn, Current, PhD Program, C.S. & Software Engineering
 Expertise
• Advanced Networking
• Vulnerability Assessments
• Course Development
• Cyber Exercises and Training
• Computer Network Defense
• Legacy System Security Testing
• Microelectronics

Overview
 Blockchain technologies have
expanded significantly since the
initial introduction of the
Bitcoin whitepaper in October
2008
 Most associate blockchain
technologies solely with
cryptocurrency ledgers and
accounting
 Bitcoin
 Ethereum
 Dash
 ZCash
 Blockchain applications have
expanded to security of numerous
domains including networks,
applications, agreements, and
proof of ownership

What is a Ledger?
https://blockgeeks.com/guides/what-is-blockchain-technology

Blockchain Introduction
 A blockchain provides a mechanism to distribute
digital information and decentralize security

Blockchain Introduction
 The blockchain becomes a
decentralized database with
all transactions that have
occurred up to that point
 Each blockchain has a
specified time between each
new block
 After the block time has
been reached, all new
transactions during that
time are added to the hashed
value of the previous blocks
 Transactions are only added
after network consensus is
reached
New Transactions

Proof of Work Blockchains
 Proof of work (PoW) indicates the method employed by
blockchain to verify that calculations were
successfully completed
 Each node MUST demonstrate their PoW to all other
nodes on the blockchain in order to be given “credit”
for their processing power
 For the Bitcoin protocol, a value called a “nonce”
is added to the transaction ledger to find a specific
hash property namely, a set number of leading zeros
in the resulting hash
Block + Nonce
Fixed Variable
00000a2bc5d……

Block Chain Demonstration
https://anders.com/blockchain/block.html

Practical Distributed Ledgers
 Each node maintains access to
the distributed “ledger”
 New blocks are distributed to
every node for processing
 The ultimate objective of node
processing is a reduced “hash”
that “proves” that work has been
applied to the blockchain
Proof of Work
 There are other forms of
confirmation
Proof of Stake

Blockchain Adoption
Current market
capitalization for
blockchain
cryptocurrencies as of
today is $112 B
http://coinmarketcap.com
Under Armour: $9 B
Target: $53 B
General Motors: $60 B
Nike: $89 B
Amazon: $400 B
Google: $580 B
Apple: $730 B
NYSE: $21 T

Decentralized Applications
 Bitcoin decentralized networking demonstrated the
feasibility of secure applications
 Showed how to distribute and maintain an accounting
of continuously added transactions
 Blockchain technologies have expanded to in many
domains:
 Decentralized Banking
 Network Security
 Identity Protection
 Distributed Storage
 “Smart” Contracts
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ameer-rosic-/5-blockchain-applications_b_13279010.html

Proof of Work Monitoring
 Real Time Monitoring
of POW applications
 Identification of
network security
 Tracking of worker
efficiency
 API development and
improvement

Address Generation
 The generation of addresses for
any blockchain depends on the
implementation of the
cryptographic algorithm
 For example, in order to create
a bitcoin address for the
sending and receiving of
bitcoin, an Elliptical Curve
Cryptography (ECC) algorithm
used
 Before an address can be
generated, it is necessary to
have a public / private key pair
 There is a mathematical
relationship between the public
and private key, but is
currently computationally
infeasible to calculate the
private key from the public key
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/File:PubKeyToAddr.png
Random Private Key Generation

Address Generation Demonstration

Blockchain Security Innovations
 Blockchain-based
applications distribute
security
Blockchain-Based PKI
o Certificate Authority
centralization creates a single
point of failure
o Key verification through consensus
Secure identities
Data integrity
o Hashing techniques must contend
with collision avoidance
o Distributed data and comparison
techniques
Transaction signing
https://venturebeat.com/2017/01/22/blockchains-brilliant-approach-to-cybersecurity

Blockchain Integration
 A number of projects are
currently building their
technology into existing
infrastructure
 Secure identify management
 Transaction Signing
 Interaction with
decentralized applications
that support specific
blockchains

Distributed Applications
 What can be decentralized?
 How can distributed applications be integrated into
existing technology?
 What needs to change to bring about adoption?
https://dapps.ethercasts.com/

Blockchain Effects on Cybersecurity
 Completely open source
confirmation of transactions
 Not every application needs
to be decentralized, but a
number of key cybersecurity
applications will benefit
 Instead of transactions,
blockchain explorers can be
modified to provide
distributed confirmation of:
Personal Identity
Data Integrity and Sharing
Network Security

Non-Bitcoin Blockchains
 There is enormous interest in the development of
non-bitcoin blockchains to aid in a wide variety of
current technical problems:
 Ethereum – Decentralized Applications
 Digital Cash – Private Payment
 Zcash – Zero Knowledge Cryptography
 Monero – Privacy
 Ripple – Global Payment Blockchain (Japanese Banks)
 Auger – Prediction Market Blockchain (Ethereum-Based)
 IOTA – Decentralized Internet of Things (IoT) security
 NEO – China’s Ethereum

Bitcoin Market Dominance
SEC Bitcoin
ETF Decision
Source: CoinMarketCap

Practical Blockchain Considerations
 Continued Blockchain Adoption
 Upcoming Bitcoin “Upgrades”
 Cryptocurrency Markets and Investing
 Corporate Support of Blockchain Projects
 Regulations

The Blockchain and the Future of Cybersecurity

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