Tech giant firm Accenture has unveiled a patent-pending hardware-based security solution that simplifies the potentials of blockchain technology in order to integrate with the security systems that support various sectors including healthcare, financial services, and government.
Accenture has teamed up with Thales to develop the solution, as its Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) addresses important blockchain risks for the sector. The solution builds a developer-friendly interface between the blockchain platforms and widely used hardware security technology.
“Blockchain is quickly maturing across industries and is set to profoundly change how businesses operate. But current applications cannot meet the high-security standards of most mission-critical IT infrastructure. That is because the digital keys used to secure and validate messages and transactions historically have proven vulnerable to network attacks. Our solution provides the same kind of physical security that banks have relied on for decades to keep money and transaction records, safe from cyber thieves. It will clear a wider path not only for banks but for governments, insurers, healthcare providers and others to do real-world deployments of blockchain technology,” Simon Whitehouse, senior managing director and head of blockchain technologies at Accenture, stated.
The HSMs are crypto-processors that securely generate, protect and store digital keys in the Thales HSM architecture. These keys cannot be extracted or used except under highly controlled protocol. The solution needs to be installed only once, allowing companies to secure their blockchain applications using the solution irrespective of which blockchain software or application they use.
The benefits of the hardware solution include keys that are stored within secure HSM boundary where they are vulnerable to attacks, tamper-proof hardware that are tested to stringent standards and are impossible to access by unauthorized users. Also, the solution is a sophisticated cryptography, providing superior quality keys than a typical computer system.
“Accenture has built trust and security into the technology of the chain itself, using Thales HSMs to protect the chain and prevent any nefarious activity. Thales continues to invest in blockchain delivering the ‘root of trust’ to this emerging technology,” Jon Geater, Chief Technology Officer at Thales e-Security said.
