From Encrypted Messaging to Critical Fire Systems: Blockchain for Security Sector

Ensuring data security and integrity is blockchain's natural and widely recognized forte.

In May 2016, NATO's Communications and Information Agency first invited proposals on blockchain applications in areas such as military logistics and procurement as a part of its Innovation Challenge initiative.

Australia's financial intelligence agency and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission pooled some resources last year to fund the effort by HoustonKemp, a Singapore-based contractor, to build a blockchain system advancing the same goal - securely recording, storing, and sharing sensitive intelligence and evidence created by investigations.

Russia, too, has been wasting no time, as its Ministry of Defense designated a newly built research laboratory to explore the potential applications of blockchain technology for safeguarding critical military infrastructure from cyber attacks.

Another common and well-documented application of blockchain technology for security and law enforcement purposes manifests in a wide range of tools that permit tracking suspicious or illegal financial activity, with the ultimate goal of matching pseudonymous crypto addresses with perpetrators of real crime.

This push resulted in creation of Blockchain Alliance, a coalition of companies whose mission is to 'provide a forum for open dialogue between industry and law enforcement and regulatory agencies' while combating crimes that use public blockchain infrastructure.

Along with providing software tools that have already been deployed by agencies such as Europol and the US Department of Homeland Security in some high-profile investigations, Blockchain Alliance emphasizes the need to educate law enforcement on the technology underlying cybercrimes and the most efficient ways to deal with it.

Granted, innovation-minded generals and military technology experts have been long eyeing applications of blockchain such as military logistics, cyber defense, and resilient communications.

In October 2016, DARPA spent some $1.8 million to pay a software company named Galois for their Blockchain application Guardtime Keyless Signature Infrastructure - basically, an unhackable code that could be deployed to enhance security in critical weapon systems.

A set of autonomous systems that coordinate via a blockchain could present a more viable design, retaining advantages of coordination but eliminating vulnerabilities inherent to central control.