Hacking the blockchain-It's not just for breakfast anymore

No longer impregnable-Hacking the blockchain
-Charles  Parker, II


Blockchain seems to have been over the last few years one of the words attracting quite a bit of attention. As the functional attribute providing the backbone for cryptocurrency several new protocols were popping up. A handful was prepared for their introduction, while too many others were not. This was to provide a promise for those investing and using cryptocurrency. With this in place, the cryptocurrency was safe.

This was heralded as the one application of computer science engineering which was not vulnerable to a successful attack. By all accords for those directly, intrinsically involved in the industry, this was nothing to worry about due to the structure and framework used by the blockchain.

Not Merely a Theory-Coinbase
It would be easy enough to spout on how the blockchain apps could be hacked. There are many theories on how this could be done. A portion of these is exceptionally complicated, while others are relatively more simple.

In January 2019, the theory became reality. The security team at Coinbase was working through the day, just like any other. At some point, they began to note strange occurrences focussed on Ethereum Classic. This exchange platform is generally used to purchase and sell cryptocurrency. The attackers had control of over half of the Coinbase network. The attacker's efforts allowed them to rewrite the transaction history.

The rewriting of the transaction logs allowed the group to double-spend. Gate.io lost approximately $200k. This was not the only successful attack. Since 2017, there has been nearly $2B of cryptocurrency stolen, and this is the publicly revealed amount.

Market's Attitude
Honestly, the market should not be shocked by this turn of events. There is a mass amount of cryptocurrency in these platforms waiting to be attacked. These attacks are not easy to complete successfully. This being said, as long as there is money or assets to steal, there will be targets.

Blockchain to be helpful with cybersecurity

Blockchain has grown in use exponentially over the last few years. People are trying to apply this to virtually anything possible. This phenomena almost appears to be the goose that lays the golden eggs. When the term blockchain is attached to a process, there is the instant attention paid to it. This is prevalent to the extent this is being applied where it may not make the most sense.

This being said, one application which may have a useful place for blockchain may be securing data. One area cybersecurity is directly focussed on is data security, including cryptography. Without delving into the minutiae of the blockchain inner workings and processes, this easily could be applied to data.

Each chunk or block of data from the entire data set is packaged and saved with a reference to its prior block, which is secured with a cryptographic algorithm. Once in the chain, it can’t be changed. In addition, the nodes also are involved to ensure the blocks are correct. For an attack to be successful, several facets would need to be cracked, in addition to the attackers taking over 51% of the nodes. This is exceptionally unlikely and not a significant concern. With this in place along with an industry acceptable cryptographic algorithm, there could be a place for blockchain within the data security realm.