Blockchain technology has changed the trend of maintaining security. It increases the automation level and ensures a secure data transmitting process. There are many ways to secure IoT devices, like, biometrics, two-factor authentication, password, etc. The blockchain is a one-stop solution for this. It is the most effective technology to secure IoT devices from external attacks.
IoT is all about connecting various types of equipment and devices that are responsible for transferring data. Like, hardware equipment’s related to servers, software, and sensors. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing, and sensor technologies are some examples that have made it practical.
Blockchain plays a vital role in securing cryptocurrencies running around the world. Industry verticals like healthcare, finance, and e-commerce use blockchain to maintain privacy in their customer database. It plays a vital role in securing IoT at a broad scale. Blockchain technology has four elements that increase its value in the market, which are Consensus, Ledger, Cryptography, and smart contact. The enhanced privacy of Blockchain provides massive help to entrepreneurs and big organizations who use more devices to handle their work.
Most Common IoT Challenges
Most industries face cyber security attacks in their systems, and blockchain works as a shield that prevents them from data privacy threats. It is necessary to take care of issues and challenges faced by IoT solutions. To better understand the IoT, first, we have to go through the challenges that usually occur.
Unauthorized access of devices
Multiple IoT devices connected with a single network allow hackers to interfere in the system through a single device. The risk can arise from anywhere if your IoT devices are not secured. Employees can enter the network with their devices and can have access to data. It doesn’t matter if their devices have weak authentication they can perform any malpractice by entering into the centralized database. The computer devices used in the workplace can be hacked, through simple codings at no time.
Encryption attacks
The chances of hacking increase, as the data transferred through IoT devices, don’t require any human intervention. Weak encryption keys and authentication credentials give leverage to cybercriminals to hack the systems and access the data.
Expensive
It is quite expensive to handle and maintain IoT devices. It requires continuous maintenance, which is not a cost-friendly option. Companies usually adopt blockchain technology to save their cost.
Network breaches
The network breach issue occurs the most when the IT department is busy setting up the necessary protocols, devices, and standards. By taking advantage of this, hackers got the chance to intervene in the system. In all the processes of device deployment, hackers get a chance to penetrate into the network which results in a data breach.
Software attack
Software attack is the most common issue which businesses usually face. It is necessary to ensure the security of all the devices connected to the internet if it is not, the possibility of having Malware attacks and Phishing attacks will increase.
Centralized security infrastructure is hard to manage in big organization setups. It is easy to hack, and DDoS attacks can occur anytime in between the work. Most companies use Blockchain technology to tackle these challenges. It has the ability to minimize hacking issues and brings efficiency to day-to-day work. The IT department has to take care of a lot of things in which security comes on the top, Blockchain can be considered as an asset for them.
Advantages of Strengthening the IoT With Blockchain
Security of each transaction
Traceability and security of all day-to-day financial transactions get better with Blockchain. The whole transaction process depends on the confirmation of the concerned party. If they don’t allow it, the transaction will not happen. It requires sender, miner, and receiver confirmation to process any transaction. Blockchain technology provides a secure environment to record and save confidential data and user credentials. Blockchain is responsible for storing and recording data, which eliminates the possibility of data theft, ensures smooth data transmission.
Built-in security
Blockchain technology is decentralized, and the distributed ledgers are replicated across various computers. It increases the challenges of hackers who usually interfere in the computer system to access confidential data. Blockchain technology brings extra security to the storage and ensures the accessibility of data as users can store their data in different devices and can retrieve it as well. IoT devices depend on the server models that require centralized management to manage networks. If we talk about scalability, nothing can beat Blockchain technology. The possibilities of success are very high here. It is tamper-resistant, which increases its value more in maintaining cyber security.
Eliminates human errors
The possibilities of having any human errors get reduced at a significant rate with blockchain’s advanced features. It gets easy to avoid manual errors like the wrong compilation of documents, wrong data input, and losing files mistakenly. Sometimes people forget the main login details, which sometimes leads to data loss. Blockchain provides a secure working environment by eliminating the requirement of filling in login credentials. An encrypted identity is available in all devices, which helps in identifying the distributed ledgers. Organizations can find the exact system from where the human breach has occurred. It gets easy to avoid manual errors because each activity on an IoT network can be detected and tracked anytime with the help of Blockchain technology.
Secure communication
Its decentralized database records each transaction that happens on a network. Blockchain ensures secure and efficient communication between the concerned parties. IoT devices run with encryption keys connected with the blockchain. It helps in sharing confidential data and secures collaboration between various departments.
Creates a trustworthy IoT environment
Users have to fill the unique code to access the IoT network which means no one can use the sensitive data easily. The network is totally secured, and user identities can be secured at each step. Managing central security costs a lot to companies who are dependent on IoT. It uses encryption algorithms to maintain privacy in data. In all aspects, Blockchain is trustworthy to maintain privacy within the organization.
Benefits of IoT and Blockchain to Businesses
- Build trust– IoT and blockchain build trust within /organization as the data transferring process gets simplified within the organization. Each transaction is recorded and stored in blocks that cannot be changed and traced easily by hackers.
- Transparency– Blockchain provides transparency by giving the leverage to track the previous few transactions that happened unknowingly. This helps companies to find the exact source of data sharing.
- Additional security– It provides added security to the data, which gives you leverage to analyze, customize and share the data with the clients or your partners.
- Great flexibility– Provides great flexibility in doing day-to-day transactions and transmitting the information. By using this technology you can maximize the level of security in the organization.
- Robust level of encryption– One thing which can be assured here is highly secured encryption tools that protect the company’s confidential information. It adds multiple security layers that cannot be hacked easily. Hackers have to bypass these layers to access the network.
- Cost-saving– This is one of the most cost-effective technologies that you can deploy for the privacy of data. It eliminates the additional overheads related to IoT gateways, which help companies in reducing IT cost.
- Fast processing of transactions– Blockchain ensures fast processing of transactions which is something appreciable. Appropriate coordination between various devices can be maintained between several devices at a single time.
Conclusion
In the previous few years, companies have started using Blockchain technology for their business. They deploy Blockchain to secure IoT and to address other various business issues. Blockchain is encrypted and secured, that’s why most people prefer to implement it in their companies. Blockchain handles a large amount of data and deals with data privacy issues at a large scale with appropriate and standardized methods. You must think of its usage in your business.
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