Information security using blockchain technology
OwnerKevin Tobininventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Blockchain technology is used to provide security of electronic systems. The disclosed technology allows for a dynamic bond of trust to be applied to the field of information security without the need for a single point of trust to first be established. The lines of trust between electronic systems or devices is established by distributing information among the systems or devices. This allows for easy identification of commonalities and/or decision making whereby policy(s)/action(s)/monitoring/etc. can be enforced when those commonalities align. Simultaneously, deviations from those commonalities can be identified and policy(s)/action(s)/monitoring/etc. may also be invoked.
Claims20
A system of invoking informational security, such as to detect a man-in-the-middle attack, the system comprising:
- a communications device consisting of a gateway or network switch;
- a plurality of nodes, wherein each node comprises:
- a ledger of information;
- a communication channel with at least one other node;
- a communication channel with the communications device;
- a storage unit configured to store the ledger of information and compare the information stored in the ledger against information from at least one other node's ledger;
- a baseline of trust configured to be established with common pieces of information within the ledger of information to create a common fingerprint;
- wherein each node is configured to hash information about the communications device and, at predetermined time periods, compare the hash values to the baseline of trust to determine authenticity of the information about the communications device and
- wherein each node is configured to perform security measures if the node determines that the information about the communications device is not authentic.
A method of invoking informational security, such as to detect a man-in-the-middle attack, comprising:
- connecting a plurality of nodes to a network;
- allowing communication channels to be open between each individual node in the plurality of nodes;
- connecting the network to a communications device consisting of a gateway or network switch;
- sharing information about the communications device among the plurality of nodes in the network;
- using the shared information to create a baseline of trust about the communications device;
- within each individual node, hashing the communications device information and, at predetermined time periods, comparing the hash values to the baseline of trust to determine authenticity of the communications device information;
- and
- performing security measures if any individual node's shared information does not match the baseline of trust.
A non-transitory electronically readable medium configured to store instructions that, when executed by a processor in a node, are configured to implement a method for invoking informational security, such as to detect a man-in-the-middle attack, the method comprising:
- connecting the node to a gateway or network switch;
- maintaining at least one communication channel to at least one other unique node in a plurality of nodes in a network;
- storing a first set of information about the gateway or network switch;
- hashing the first set of information;
- sending the hashed first set of information to the at least one other unique node;
- periodically receiving a blockchain containing hashed information about the gateway or network switch from the plurality of nodes and validating the hashed first set of information with the blockchain to determine consensus of the information about the gateway or network switch;
- and
- performing security measures if the hashed first set of information is not validated.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.