You might think, “OK, fine, Blockchain is a high technology that will positively change the world.” But, the question remains, “Is it secured?” The short answer is yes. But first, let’s think about what the system has currently achieved.
The reality is that anything can be hacked and compromised that is connected to the Internet, or connected to a system that has the connection to the web. Many devices do not use any connection and still can be broken into once you have physical access to it. Such might be a laptop or desktop computer that can be broken into using a Linux cd, and booted using that. If you want to go further, let’s take a look at banks for example. They are getting compromised all the time; of course, they have stopped announcing these types of incidents, as they would have no customers left if they would carry on doing so.
The director of the FBI was hacked by a teenager in the end of 2015, and most people think it’s funny. Still, when you think about the security within the FBI, it is very well organized, yet still hackable. The FBI might not be the best example to mention, as even Kevin Mitnick hacked the FBI for three long years, and listened to the agents’ phone conversations while Agents were talking about Kevin. Anytime they talked about Kevin as they found out where he stayed and they will raid his place, Kevin knew about it, so if just moved to another place. When you look at the NSA, aka The National Security Agency, you probably have heard of Edward Snowden already, who walked out with documents that are considered to be secret; that still shows that even the NSA has weaknesses. Confidential or even secrets can be leaked.
All those expensive Firewalls, Intrusion Prevention Systems, or Intrusion Detection Systems are worthless if they are not upgraded correctly. Also, you have to understand that having all that security does not mean anything if someone has a social engineering skill set and figures out the password to any of those devices. The result would be dramatic, and they always are, but most of the great financial institutions have stopped talking to news channels about being compromised by hackers as it would only damage their image, and it would become an embarrassment. Because companies keep all their data centralized, hackers only have to go after a specific organization to compromise its systems; that is why hackers know for a fact that anything can be broken into. To hack into any system, it’s only a matter of time and proper planning; however, when it comes to a system like Blockchain, it is highly unlikely. Although experts say that it is not impossible, it still would require an enormous amount of computing power.
Blockchain has no firewalls or any Detection or Prevention system that would protect it. Instead, Blockchain’s power comes from the fact that it is completely decentralized. What I mean by that is simple really. Though, I will do my best to explain it in everyday English. Because Blockchain is an open source technology, anyone can run the software. You may choose not to ever buy Bitcoins, or invest in any cryptocurrency. Nevertheless, you might become part of the Blockchain community by running a software called Blockchain. The software itself is free to download and use, and you will have no obligation to anyone whatsoever, but once you decide to run it, you simply become part of the Blockchain community. Once you become such member, your device will become part of the Blockchain and each time a new block is created your device will also get a copy of that transaction. As your device has now became part of the Blockchain, this is another device that should be hacked to compromise the block chain thoroughly.
Because your device is now running a Blockchain software, it’s now also contributing to the existing decentralized system. There are no centralized copies and every user is trusted in the same way as the rest of them. What I mean is that no master node exists, as every single device has the same replicated information, making it nearly impossible to hack. The Blockchain is running for almost a decade, and it has never been compromised, not once. It is fascinating, as the Blockchain has a bounty of 7 Billion dollars to anyone who can compromise the system, offered anonymously. Due to the price on Blockchain’s head, it has become the primary target for many black hat hackers, as well as large criminal organizations, and Cybergangs, for years. Still, Blockchain has not been hacked yet, not even a slowdown of any kind has ever happened. This shows that the core functions have been structured very well; but, as I mentioned before, anything can be hacked, as it’s only a matter of time.
IT professionals always believe that with technology expanding rapidly, in the future, anything is possible. Quantum technology defines the way how the Blockchain system can be hacked. Nevertheless, it would require hacking the million-plus machines currently running the Blockchain software. Additionally, to actually hack all those devices, it would need to be implemented extremely quickly to be successful.
Speculations about Satoshi himself are still in a shadow; moreover, as we don’t know who he is and what he is capable of, one thing is for sure: he designed the system. Therefore, he would have access to the very first block that he created, and he would be able to manipulate the Blockchain system if he wanted to. As time has passed, multiple Blockchain technologies now exist, and Bitcoin, itself, has grown its value; people have also begun to invest large amounts into various cryptocurrencies.
Over the years, people have lost interest in who Satoshi Nakamoto really is, or he, just simply, has been forgotten; however, if he or she is alive and decides to manipulate the system, it could be possible, and I’m sure that the outcome would favor most.
