IBM Wins A New Patent For A Blockchain-Based Network Security System

In the world of patents, IBM is among the leading companies, having filed for and won dozens of patents so far. The company is again in the latest blockchain news, this time for winning a new patent for a blockchain-based network security system.

The patent was first filed in September 2017 and awarded to IBM on Tuesday by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Basically, it centers around a network of monitors that are connected to a blockchain platform and in that way, can successfully log events on the networks as well as potential intrusions.

Even though attackers might try to hide signs of their work on one monitor, the system will work with multiple backups of that information – ensuring that such events are still logged – as the company announced.

The patent states:

“On a computer system or network, data may be monitored for many different purposes. Data monitoring may identify problems, observe conditions or track metrics by logging the events of a given computer system or network,”

It also explains the role of devices in the system – mainly for monitoring attempted intrusions on the distributed network and flagging any irregularities:

“Having synchronized monitors set up in a blockchain configuration ensures consensus among the monitors. Since one monitor alone cannot alter the event log in the past or cannot fake the event log in the future, if one monitor is hacked, then there may be no consensus among the synchronized monitors and the event may not get written into the log.”

The sensors will allow consensus by passing the (same) information to more than one monitor. If one data for event or transaction does not match on one monitor, it may have been compromised.

With this, IBM is planning to use blockchain technology to highlight irregularities and “create a less vulnerable network.”