Xage Security, a blockchain-focused firm based in California, recently announced that it had been awarded a security contract by the US Air Force. The company focuses on developing security solutions for the Industrial IoT sector to ensure data integrity and security.
The US military has heavily invested in Industrial IoT. As a result, a single installation can contain thousands of devices such as cameras and sensors. Since so many devices are deployed, it increases the attack surface compared to an internal network.
How the Blockchain will benefit the Air Force
It is thus important that the military is able to prevent unauthorized devices from being added to their network and being used to collect data. Besides that, the military needs to be able to detect when such devices are added onto their network.
Xage has developed Xage Security Fabric, which utilizes the blockchain to secure policies about which nodes are allowed onto a network, the identities, as well as limiting unauthorized access to information. Additionally, it utilizes the blockchain to create an immutable audit trail of all activities being carried out.
In most cases, when an intruder gains entry into a network, they will change a password and try to erase their activities by editing the logs. However, if the logs and other changes were captured in the blockchain, the attacker would not have the ability to hide their tracks. To achieve this, they would have to make changes to hundreds or thousands of nodes in a short time, which might not be humanly possible. This essentially makes logs tamper-proof, making it easier to track down the origin of bad actors.
According to the CEO of Xage Security, there was a greater need for security today with military and industrial operations becoming increasingly digitized. The CEO added that the blockchain-powered security solutions provided by his company would ensure trust in various ecosystems. He concluded by stating that he was proud to be working for the USAF to find ways to secure their processes.
The contract to Xage Security was awarded under the Small Business Innovation Research Program. In 2018, Xage raised $12 million in Series A funding round, which was led by GE Ventures and March Capital Partners. This is not the first contract that they have won from the US government. The company has already secured a contract from the US Department of Energy for a research project.
The USAF has heavily invested in the blockchain in 2019. For instance, it awarded a security contract to iCAMR to help it develop a blockchain-based system to prevent chip tampering. The contract was worth $7.6 million. It has also been working with Constellation on a blockchain project to secure data.
Growing Interest in the Blockchain by Militaries
A few weeks ago, Visionary Financial reported on China and how they expressed interest in their military leveraging Blockchain technologies. Major military powers globally are recognizing that the blockchain has major benefits over existing systems. It is likely that in the next few years, all security systems, both civilian and military, will rely on the blockchain in some way.
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