News Roundup — Blockchain Security Developments
What are some of the latest developments in blockchain security? Following is a summary of some recent headlines:
HTC to ship blockchain phone with secure enclave in December
HTC has announced early access to its coming blockchain phone, the Exodus 1. Set to ship in December, the Exodus 1 is an Android-powered device with a secure enclave that’s protected from the main operating system. The enclave is designed to store crypto keys and, eventually, other digital data as well. HTC said the phone also features a ‘social key recovery’ mechanism that lets users recover their security keys if the device is lost or stolen. “As this is the early access version of the Exodus device, HTC is inviting cryptographers and developers from all over the world to join the Exodus community and help improve the strength of this secure enclave,” the company said in its press release. Early access to the Exodus 1 is available via payment using either Bitcoin or Ethereum.
Agreement paves way for China’s first blockchain security testing centre
China’s National Internet Emergency Centre has signed a contract with the Changsha Economic and Technological Development Zone to create the country’s first testing centre for blockchain security, the China News Service reported. “Wu Zhen, secretary general of the National Internet Finance Security Technology Expert Committee, said that the current security problems in blockchain include economic security, social security and technical security. To solve this security problem, it is necessary to build a security system around the physical layer, data layer, application layer, encryption algorithm, risk control and other links,” the news organisation reported. The centre’s blockchain testing service is projected to generate 500 million yuan in annual “output value” over the next years, it added.
IBM: Use blockchain to protect security monitoring data logs
The US Patent & Trademark Office has published a patent from IBM that describes a blockchain-based system for IT security monitoring. The system uses multiple monitors that share a single permanent log that is updated once a consensus is reached. Using such a system could defend against attackers who not only breach security but attempt to alter data logs, the patent says: “Securing a data log using monitor security protocols may be accomplished with different levels of security, ranging from low security to high security, and have various combinations of hardware and software configurations. Low security may allow open access to the event logs while high security may significantly restrict access to the event logs. Protecting the monitored system from hackers gaining access to alter the event logs may require a new type of security configuration.”
Blockchain voting could create ‘false sense of security’
A team of crypto researchers has warned in an article in The Conversation that using blockchain to secure online voting could end up “creating a false sense of security — and putting the integrity of the election process at risk”. While noting that they “believe in the transformative potential of blockchain systems in a number of industries,” Cornell University computer scientist Ari Juels, Israel Institute of Technology assistant professor Ittay Eyal and Cornell visiting research Oded Naor echoed other researchers who say the internet isn’t secure enough for such socially important functions as voting. “Without a paper trail, the very possibility that someone could have secretly changed votes will further erode public trust in democratic elections,” they wrote. In addition, they said, blockchain voting could enable vote buying.
Germany’s Infineon, Xain team up for automotive blockchain security
Two Germany-based companies — the semiconductor manufacturer Infineon and the blockchain company Xain — have come together in a joint research effort to develop blockchain technology for vehicle microcontrollers. “Cybersecurity is a key pillar of the data-driven future of mobility,” Infineon automotive division president Peter Schiefer said in a press announcement. In a Xain Medium post, Xain founder and CEO Leif-Nissen Lundbæk added: “We aim to turn cars into fully-fledged network participants. As well as being important for offline and real-time capabilities, this also enables a particularly high level of privacy protection in connection with AI technologies. It ensures that private data for machine learning is kept exclusively in local storage.”
