The SmartLedger team is at the Media Blitz to kick off 2023 and has already appeared on several podcasts to introduce new products and talk about the success of Sentinel Node. This week, they appeared on the Food Institute podcast to explain how blockchain can be used for cybersecurity.
Podcast guest introduction
Bryan Daugherty introduces himself as co-founder of SmartLedger and director of public policy for the Bitcoin Association.
Gregory Ward is the Chief Development Officer of SmartLedger and co-founder of CertiHash.
Patryk Walaszczyk is a Blockchain Solutions Expert and Business Analyst at IBM.
How are cybersecurity threats threatening the food industry and business at large?
Host Chris Campbell quickly asks this question. Daugherty says it’s hard to think of a more important industry than agriculture. The food industry is complex and intertwined, and we are increasingly seeing the application of smart devices, the Internet of Things (IoT), and automated agricultural technology. Any disruption can have far-reaching effects across the industry, affecting the lives and livelihoods of real people, he says.
Moreover, the food industry is fragile and controlled by a handful of conglomerates. Shutting down any of these via a cyberattack would have devastating consequences and would be a national concern for any country, Daugherty said, with everything from hacktivists to his cyber-his gang and even the nation to disrupt chaos. explains that there is no shortage of groups trying to cause
what about the cost? What do companies have to pay in the event of a data breach?
Daugherty explained that JBS Foods was the victim of a ransomware attack that may have originated in Russia, causing 13 meat plants to shut down and wreak havoc. Farms and restaurants were affected, and meat prices soared. Ultimately, JBS had to pay the blackmailer his BTC of $11 million. While this cost is substantial, it does not include repairs to the company’s reputation, fines from the government, etc.
Daugherty elaborated on the fines, citing Equifax, which was fined at least $575 million after a data breach that lost millions of consumer data. It goes without saying that preventing these attacks is more valuable than cleaning them up.
Campbell calls these fines “reactive” and asks whether the regulatory environment will change in the coming years. Daugherty clarified that his discussions with policymakers were focused on resilient cybersecurity practices, and responded that they intend to strengthen national cybersecurity. , with considerable resources being spent, including his $11 billion allocated by the Biden administration. Daugherty hopes the investment will create new infrastructure that will impact the food industry.
Overall, we anticipate increasing pressure to report these breaches in a transparent and auditable manner. Blockchain will help with this, implementing permissioned sharing alerts on national concerns.
What is the general timeline for detecting hacks?
Campbell asks Ward about a typical timeline for detecting hacks. IBM reports that it took about 187 days to detect the beach, and another 75 days to contain it, he says. The SmartLedger team finds this unacceptable and their tool, Sentinel Node, can save you a lot of time.
What does a traditional forensic process (pre-blockchain) look like? Walaszczyk explains that the forensic process is not much different than Sentinel Node, but should be much faster and cheaper. Litigation is important and if it’s not done properly, it’s all for nothing.
Walaszczyk details the process and the first step is to determine if a compromise actually occurred. Then you need to understand how the breach happened, how big it is, and send the right notifications. Once everything is confirmed, an incident response plan should be developed. follow. Again, evidence preservation is very important.
This entire process can take up to 270 days, and Sentinel nodes can reduce this time significantly. how fast would that be? Less than a minute, according to Wallaczyczyk. The main objective is to reduce identification time and speed up the entire process of identifying breaches.
What are the other benefits of using blockchain technology for cybersecurity? Walaszczyk explains that the first step to understanding these is understanding what blockchain really is. doing. It’s basically a database with its own characteristics, such as decentralization and immutability. This means that no one can delete or modify data written to the blockchain. From the perspective of tools like Sentinel Node, this means auditors can be sure that the data they are monitoring is legitimate and has not been tampered with by attackers or other third parties.
Sentinel node details
Campbell asks Ward to tell him more about Sentinel Nodes in particular. Ward explains that real-time network he combines file integrity monitoring and administrator accountability with scalable blockchain he technology. Without the BSV blockchain, this product could not exist.
Installing Sentinel Node is very easy, says Ward. Administrators can then log in using their private access key and check the network status in real time (every 10 seconds). When alerts are detected, they are immediately sent to administrators and other authorized stakeholders. Anyone processing this alert will need to be signed in with an enterprise blockchain access key, creating true admin responsibility.
Campbell is intrigued by the accountability part.
“Accountability and data integrity are everything. That’s why we’re creating these tools,” explains Ward.
Attackers often try to cover their tracks by deleting logs, but Sentinel Node, where real-time data is written to the public blockchain, makes that impossible, he continues. It also helps businesses and organizations understand who took what action when an alert was raised.
Main points of this podcast episode
- Cyberattacks such as ransomware and network breaches are an increasing concern for the global food industry. Attacks are so fragile and interconnected that they can have wide-ranging impact.
- These attacks can be very costly to the companies and organizations involved. Costs increase even further when government fines are taken into account.
- The current average detection time for network compromises is 187 days. It may take an additional 75 days to contain the breach or attack.
- Blockchain-based cybersecurity tools such as Sentinel Node can dramatically reduce detection times (to less than a minute). It also enables true accountability, so organizations know exactly how a breach occurred, who within the organization responded to alerts, and what actions were taken.
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