Blockchain and Internet of Things are currently being seen as technologies that’ll become ubiquitous in the near future. But, there are also individuals who’re working towards the amalgamation of the two to build secure smart home solutions. They’re now looking to expand the scope of this tech beyond its financial confines and into Internet of Things (IoT).
Thus, a collective of Fortune 500 companies and industry-leading blockchain startups are coming together to address the potential of these technologies. These partners include technology leaders like BNY Mellon, Bosch, networking hardware giant Cisco, security giant Gemalto, and hardware maker Foxconn. The startups in the initiative include Ambisafe, BitSE, Chronicled, ConsenSys, Skuchain, among others.
These two parties have already conducted a meeting and decided to collaborate on the development of a shared blockchain protocol for the Internet of Things. This initiative was brought to the front lines after several IT firms successfully deployed blockchain-registered tamper-proof hardware for several use cases.
The most prominent of these has, however, been in the finance sector to conduct immensely secure cross-border transactions. And IoT hardware devices have recently been taking a hit due to their insecure nature. Mirai botnet has reeked havoc over these devices by hacking them, replicating them to create bots, and then adding it to their arsenal of other devices. This should be the main issue this consortium is looking to sort with this blockchain implementation.
Talking about this alliance, Dirk Slama, Chief Alliance Officer at Bosch Software Innovations, said,
We are seeing tremendous potential for the application of blockchain in industrial use cases. Being able to create a tamper-proof history of how products are manufactured, moved and maintained in complex value networks with many stakeholders is a critical capability, e.g. for quality assurance and prevention of counterfeits. This must be supported by a shared blockchain infrastructure and an integrated Internet of Things protocol.
For those unaware of Blockchain, let’s first talk about the basics of this technology. Blockchain is a secure, tamper-proof distributed record of transactions which are maintained on a network of computers connected to the internet. The user data stored in these records (tables) is secured through advanced cryptographic methods. The proponents of this technology are of the opinion that it could provide an even secure working environment. It could also prove to be a boon for developing better identity features.
The consortium formed by these industry majors have agreed that ” security, trust, identity, and registration and verification would be the cornerstones of any common protocol.” But they’re also of the opinion that the tech shouldn’t be restricted to chip types, communication protocols, proprietary platforms, cloud service providers, and blockchain systems. It should be interoperable and integrable with most of the existing protocols.
Alex Batlin, Head of Blockchain at BNY Mellon also comments on the formation of this alliance. He says,
Blockchain has the power to improve resiliency and efficiency in a fully connected world. What’s missing today is a solution that provides trusted, tamper-proof guarantees for any title deed, public record, compliance event, or transaction, building on the way paper documents are used currently.
The consortium is currently locking anyone into place and its functioning is completely voluntary. This, the partners, believe will enable the collaborators to emphasize on fast-moving open-source collaboration. But, most importantly, if the protocols are ultimately put into place then future IoT devices wouldn’t have to suffer from frequent malware attacks. Thus, also reducing the frequency of DDoS attacks in the near future.
