For example, startup Xage Security launched late in 2017 claiming that its “tamper-proof” blockchain technology platform distributes private data and authentication at scale across a network of devices. Furthermore, the firm says it supports any communication, can work at the edge with irregular connectivity, and secure a myriad of different industrial systems.

The firm says it is already working with ABB Wireless on power and automation projects requiring distributed security, as well as with Dell to deliver security services on Dell IoT Gateways and its EdgeX platform for the energy industry.

Meanwhile, as yet another real-world example, the Isle of Man government in the UK has taken a different route. It is testing blockchain technology to see if it can prevent IoT devices from compromise (signing unique identities to physical items to affirm authenticity).

These improvements are being embedded at the chipset level, too. Startup Filament recently announced a new chip designed to enable industrial IoT devices to work with multiple blockchain technologies. The idea behind its Blocklet chip is to let IoT sensor data be coded directly into the blockchain with the goal to “provide a secure foundation for decentralized interaction and exchange.”

This data integrity extends to IoT and IIoT devices. For example, IBM provides its Watson IoT platform with an option to manage IoT data in a private blockchain ledger, which is integrated into Big Blue’s cloud services. Ericsson’s Blockchain Data Integrity service provides fully auditable, compliant and trustworthy data to app developers working within GE’s Predix PaaS platform. 

Startups like Obsidian are using blockchain to secure private information exchanged in chats, messaging apps and through social media. Unlike the end-to-end encryption employed by the likes of WhatsApp and iMessage, Obsidian’s messenger uses blockchain to secure users’ metadata. The user will not have to use email or any other authentication method to use the messenger. The metadata is randomly distributed throughout a ledger and thus will not be available for gathering in one single point, from which it could be compromised.

Elsewhere, engineers at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are reportedly experimenting with blockchain to create a messaging service that is secure and impenetrable to foreign attacks. With Blockchain rooted in secure, authenticated communications, expect this area to mature in the near future.

Nebulis is a new project exploring the concept of a distributed DNS that supposedly never fails under a deluge of access requests. Nebulis uses the Ethereum blockchain and the Interplanetary Filesystem (IPFS), a distributed alternative to HTTP, to register and resolve domain names. “At the core of the internet, we see critical services such as DNS providing opportunities for a large-scale outage and also for hacks against organizations,” says Buchanan. “Thus, a more trusted DNS infrastructure, using blockchain methods, would considerably aid the core trust infrastructure of the internet.”

Interestingly, Gladius claims that the decentralized network allows users to rent out their spare bandwidth for extra money, with this excess bandwidth then “distributed to nodes which in turn funnel the bandwidth to websites under DDoS attacks to make sure they stay up.” In less busy times (with no DDoS attacks), Gladius says its network “speeds up access to the internet by acting as a content delivery network.” 

Centralized architecture for managing and securing passwords remain one of the most significant weaknesses of traditional authentication systems. The reality remains that most human beings are not great at handling high-security passwords and keeping them safe. Therefore, regardless of how much resources the corporations spend on their security systems, humans remain the weakest link in the cybersecurity framework of corporations. Blockchains can help in this regard by automating the authentication process of system logins. With blockchains, a security system could make use of a distributed public key infrastructure based on the blockchain to authenticate devices. This would ensure that only authorized personnel could get access to the databases that store sensitive information.