With data stored in a secure environment, the public blockchain delivers the availability, security and data integrity that organisations can trust.
Like data stored in a cloud service like Amazon Web Services, Google cloud or Microsoft Azure, data stored in a public blockchain is similarly secure.
How blockchain secures data as a Time Chain
The blockchain described in the white paper proposed by Satoshi Nakamoto details how a peer-to-peer system, operating using cryptographic proof, allows blocks to be placed on a sequential public chain in chronological order with each block being timestamped to prove the order that the transaction was made and the block placed onto the blockchain.
This computational proof guarantees the transactions occurred in the order that is recorded. Each transaction is placed onto a block, which is then hashed using the data contained within the block’s transactions. As the hash is created from the contents of the block, then each transaction contained within the block must exist. The hash provides irrevocable evidence of the existence of each transaction.
Blockchain delivers transparency within an organisation and value chain
Organisations that wish to display transparency in their operations can benefit from the visibility offered by the public blockchain. Once validated and placed onto the blockchain, entries on the chain cannot be altered. Modifications to the chain can only be made with an additional entry referring to the block or transaction that should be appended. This means that an audit trail of events is available for the entire sequence of transactions.
Anyone can access the public ledger and add records to the ledger. The data is secured by digital signatures and Public Key Cryptography, which ensures that only the owner of the private key can unlock the cryptographic signature and view the data. As the public and private keys are agreed by the two parties involved who create a one-way mathematical equation resulting in a public key. The parties then exchange their public keys and produce a secret shared by both parties.
Measures to enhance data privacy on a public blockchain ledger
Each message between the two parties is signed with the public key of the originator and the recipient – ensuring that only the recipient will be able to unlock it with their private key.
Using a new pair of keys for further transactions, makes it impossible to trace which owner generated which set of keys. This level of cryptography and digital signatures ensures that data can remain secure whilst being visible.
Enterprise functions delivered by public blockchain
The opportunities offered by using a public blockchain are seemingly endless. Any organisation that uses a database could use the public blockchain. Suitable activities could include asset tracking and hardware inventory management, health records, fraud detection and theft, identity documentation and professional accreditation, item tracking and many more.
Asset tracking and hardware inventory management
Large businesses often have multiple meeting rooms which contain hardware such as conference speakers, presentation consoles, projectors and sound equipment. This equipment often gets moved from room to room or goes missing in the business. Securing these items of hardware with an RFID tag and sensors in each room, would ensure that every time a piece of hardware is moved, a record of its movement is placed onto the blockchain for accurate asset management.
Health records
Confidentiality and security of data is vital to store people’s health records, which should form a continuous record of someone’s health throughout their lives. Yet people change healthcare providers, move to a different part of the country – or relocate to another country, and their continuous record of health is broken.
As a person’s state of health is important to guarantee access to insurance and healthcare benefits, providing a secure, continuous ledger of that person’s health throughout their entire lives – owned and accessible by the owner of the data.
Fraud detection and theft
In businesses like art, fraud could significantly affect the value of a piece of art. Yet, the authenticity of a piece of art is difficult to track, as pieces exchange owners regularly. Having an immutable tracking system in place with the piece of art, can guarantee its provenance and ensure that its value is maintained. Fraudulent items could not guarantee the entire history of the item and would be quickly rejected.
Identity documentation
To verify the identity of a person, their identity documentation needs to be verified, usually using a biometric form of ID such as a passport with a picture, or fingerprint. Although a person’s facial features may change over time, or become unrecognisable due to drug use or illness, the record for that person should record changes in an accessible chain which records differences throughout the person’s lifetime.
Item tracking
From missing suitcases, recording the journey of food from farm to fork, to recording movements of shipping containers as they travel the world, the need for a permanent ledger is important to guarantee that the product has travelled from A to B without being tampered with or diverted to C or others.
Benefit from an enterprise-scale public blockchain
The possibilities for the public blockchain are seemingly limitless, and organisations could benefit from this technology in myriad ways. The technology is already there, ready to benefit your business application.
To learn more about how an enterprise-scale public blockchain can benefit your enterprise, download your free copy of our eBook to learn what the BSV blockchain is and why it is the infrastructure for the data economy.