During this presentation, we will cover a brief introduction into Blockchain technology, historic use cases & emerging trends for Blockchain technology. We will also touch on what to expect from Blockchain technology in 2019. It is important to understand the progress that is being achieved every day with every single step we take towards real use cases for Blockchain projects. 2019 might be the first year where the Blockchain starts to become a central part in people’s lives and in some industries.
Main points covered:
• Conduct a brief introduction to Blockchain technology;
• Discuss both historic use cases and emerging trends for Blockchain technology;
• What to expect from Blockchain technology in 2019
Presenter:
Our presenter for this webinar is Kenneth Kimbel, a Cybersecurity professional with over five years of overall experience providing diverse technology services in client-facing roles. Recent Master’s in Cybersecurity Risk Management as well as a JD with a Cybersecurity Law focus. Currently, Kenneth is a data privacy and Cybersecurity Advisory Consultant with Deloitte. He is also knowledgeable on both current technical and legal issues in security.
Date: March 27th, 2019
Recorded webinar: https://youtu.be/fLjVgj6MAPY
4. The definition of Blockchain
• The Blockchain is an appendable immutable universally distributed open
ledger
• Immutable – cannot delete anything from the ledger
• Appendable – can add to the ledger
• Universally distributed – everyone has access to the same exact copy of the ledger
• Open ledger – the place where all transactions are recorded
5. The shop example
• Imagine everyone in a shop knows via a public ledger how much currency
everyone has
• By removing the exchange of money to there is a much lower possibility that people
will be exploited
6. Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA)
• SHA-256
• 256 bit encryption
• 32 bytes
• 64 alphanumeric characters long every time
7. This where encryption comes in…
• SHA 256 encryption is the most popular encryption today and most often
associated with Blockchain technology
• It was developed by the NSA to ensure that codes were completely unique
• SHA 256 is valuable since the hash function produces unique outputs when
given different inputs
8. Examples of SHA-256
• When one character changes all 64 characters change:
• Example:
• Abc:
• 06D90109C8CCE34EC0C776950465421E176F08B831A938B3C6E76CB7BEE8790B
• aBc:
• 516DD854EC42B5B992888CFA87AE16E260864F5E051E045CD7D7C0B45EACBEB2
• Those exact inputs above will never yield a different hash
9. Hash function
• What is a function
• X=Y for example put simply 1=1
• A hash makes it much more complicated
• Example: think about your last meal
10. Why is this important
• Protects identity
• Your hash is your private key and public key
• Identifies you uniquely and maintains privacy
• Transactions on the Blockchain can be thought of as two unique 64 character long hashes
communicating with each other
11. SHA security
• Can the hash be deciphered?
• Yes
• But with all of the computing power in the world it would take around 1 billion years.
12. Applied to cryptocurrencies
• To protect your information while providing you a high level of security
exchanges do the following:
• They hash your information and provide you a pubic and private key
• In addition, exchanges require users to produce a secret passphrase
• This is the only way to access your account
• Reversing the work done by the algorithm but takes a lot of work
• With all of the worlds computing power it would take approximately 1 billion years
13. To trust Blockchain you must believe in the
hashing
• The hash that is created for a user is unique to the user
• It changes the second it is manipulated
• When each new block is mined it references the hash of the previous block
• If a hash is changed the ledger will recognize that there is a problem with the Blockchain
• If one computer recognizes a difference in the previous block it all become
invalidated
• When this happens the longest chain in the ledger becomes the most secured and thus
relied upon chain for the given Blockchain
14. Proof of work concept
• Validates by looking for the longest chain
• There must be a way to prove that transactions are taking place in a truthful manner
• Must be able to make the assumption that your information is safe
• If you cannot trust the mathematics you cannot trust Blockchain technology
• Everyone within the given Blockchain environment can validate the longest
chain of mined blocks
• What happens if you change the hash output of a block?
• A fork occurs
15. What does a transaction on a ledger based
model look like?
• We keep track through nodes on the network that track transactions within
the Blockchain
• Once a transaction is initiated the entire Blockchain community updates the publically
available ledger to reflect new totals after the transaction
• Everyone can verify transactions
• Nonce values ensure that each transactions are distinguishable
16. What is a nonce value
• After the hash is created
• Blockchain technology then relies on a nonce value
• A nonce value does work to prove that you did the work to mine one specific block within a
Blockchain
• This is where the processing associated with Blockchain takes place
• Once the complex math is solved that requires large amounts of processing a nonce value is then created
• A nonce value is a number that is unique to the hash it is coupled with that indicates the
amount of zeros that are to be located at the front of the hash.
• Your nonce value + your hash = the next block on your Blockchain
17. The value of the nonce value within a
transaction on the Blockchain
• You can prove that a transaction happened on the Blockchain
• This cannot be done with conventional currency
19. Security Blockchain technology provides
• The security that you get by using Blockchain technology is from the fact
that the ledger is ongoing
• If someone tires to change the information of a block within the Blockchain the block
will break and the rest of the community will know that something went wrong
• When something goes wrong nothing happens since everyone has the same copy ledger and
ensures that all transactions are valid
20. The need
• As the population increases and more people will want to participate in the global economy
• Examples of Blockchain technology
• Voting (Estonia since 2004)
• Currency (Venezuela)
• Security breaches are now commonplace
• Can rely on complete transaction in a protected manner
• Don’t have to worry about being victim since the user is protected on both ends with Blockchain technology
• Takes out a huge amount of time and resources keeping track of money and information
• Blockchain is trustless since everyone has the same copy of the ledger
• Blockchain technology allows people to trust people without knowing them
21. Interesting applications of Blockchain
technology
• Decentralized Internet
• If the internet becomes decentralized example
• Can export processing speed and storage across the globe
• Funding farmers in developing countries
• Smart Contract
• Remove banks
• Rely on a decentralized peer-to-peer network to allow people to vote on or provide funding.
• Democracy via a public ledger
22. Smart Contracts
• Blockchain provides an opportunity to exchange value and information at
the same time
• Parameters can be set that are required for a transaction to occur
• If a malicious actor attempts to change hash values a fork will occur
• When reviewing the proof of work before a transaction one can examine the Blockchain of
a malicious actor and find a short Blockchain
• Since a hash value was maliciously edited and the Blockchain was forked
23. Bitcoin
• 2009 Bitcoin was first developed
• Hit its first peak in 2013
• Recently started to climb again starting in 2016
24. Bitcoin is a currency
• This is because Bitcoin can be exchanged for goods and services
25. The advantage of Blockchain transactions
• The proof of work concept when combined with nonce values and SHA
256 hashes provide an incredible amount of security
• It helps ensure that only the best and most confirmed version of a given Blockchain is
in use
• This quality ensures that everyone who is participating on the Blockchain knows what is
happening and is kept up to date
• Manipulated transactions are immediately invalidated
26. One of the first uses of Bitcoin
• Silk Road a black-market on the dark web found value in Bitcoin
• Because Bitcoin was a currency that maintained privacy by only displaying a users
private key
• Users could send value anonymously
• These qualities for a short period of time helped the Silk Road flourish
27. The value in Blockchain technology being
decentralized
• When currency becomes decentralized societies can provide more equity to
their people
• Blockchain can provide everyone with an equal playing field
• All that is necessary is a cell phone
• India has adopted Blockchain technology largely because of these reasons
28. Issues with Bitcoin today
• The time and the processing power required to mine a Bitcoin today has
increased drastically since its inception
• Because of this node operators, payment processors and miners have gained the ability
to categorize transactions and monetize them
• Because so many people want to use Bitcoin miners can now ask for high fees and average
fees for getting a transaction across the network in a timely manner has also increased
• These problems are creating inefficiencies for Bitcoin since transactions are becoming more costly
and slower
29. Forking
• A possible solution is to fork the Bitcoin Blockchain
• Forking is attractive since it would allow the verification method to remain intact
30. What to Expect from Blockchain Technology
in 2019 and Beyond
31. Key Findings
• There was a market rush to utilize Blockchain technology for supply chain
optimization before the technology was sufficiently mature, and before
businesses were properly prepared to incorporate the technology
• Although the financial services industry was among the first industries to
attempt to utilize blockchain, the potential benefit of Blockchain is existent
in all industries
• Governance is the largest threat to Blockchain technology
32. Blockchain-Inspired Offerings
• Will be prominent for the next five years
• These solutions will not meet all the requirements associated with Blockchain
technology but will combine some elements in order to offer some of the
benefits associated with Blockchain
• Expect these solutions to capitalize on tokenization and decentralization benefits
associated with Blockchain technology
• In service focused industries expect difficulties getting Blockchain business use cases
approved (also inefficiency issues associated with early adoption)
33. Complete Blockchain Offerings
• Likely will not significantly develop for another five to ten years
• Theses solutions will include all of the components typically associated with Blockchain
technology
• Look for:
• Encryption solutions;
• Offerings that take advantage of Blockchain technology immutability;
• Monetized tokenization; and
• More advanced decentralization offerings
34. Blockchain-Enhanced Offerings
• Do not expect Blockchain-enhanced offerings for at least another ten years
• These will be mainstream solutions
• Will combine complete Blockchain solutions with other developing technologies, such as:
• Internet of Things; and
• Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Expect solutions like smart contracts with the incorporation of AI
35. In Conclusion
• Currently in 2019 there is little enterprise Blockchain Use:
• Only about 1% of enterprises have deployed some sort of Blockchain solution;
• Around 1/3 of enterprises currently show no interest in Blockchain technology;
• The other 2/3’s of enterprises either are interested in Blockchain or are planning to
incorporate Blockchain technology into their long-term plans
36. Blockchain Training Courses
on sight…
Exam and certification fees will be included in the training price.
www.pecb.com/events