Rendering Blockchain Operations Resistant to Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs)

A system for establishing integrity of digital content, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a computer-readable medium storing instructions that are operative upon execution by the processor to:
• during a block accumulation period, receive a plurality of records in a sequence, each record of the plurality of records respectively comprising a record for a digital content file and including an integrity verification code (IVC) for the digital content file;
• chain the plurality of records using IVCs, to produce a record chain, wherein chaining records comprises inserting an IVC for an earlier record into a subsequent record;
• append the plurality of records into a currently open block of a blockchain;
• at an end of the block accumulation period:
• close the currently open block to additional records, rendering the currently open block into a closed block;
• perform an audit of the closed block, the audit verifying that the record chain has not been altered, wherein performing the audit of the closed block comprises:
• generating new IVCs for records within the record chain;
• and
• comparing the new IVCs with IVCs in subsequent records that are used for chaining records in the record chain;
• and
• open a new current block into which a future plurality of records may be appended;
• and
• either:
• responsive to any of the new IVCs not matching the IVCs in subsequent records, generate an alert;
• or
• responsive to the new IVCs matching the IVCs in subsequent records, chain the closed block to the blockchain, wherein chaining the closed block to the blockchain comprises inserting an IVC for an earlier block into the closed block, and wherein the record chain provides a first chaining tier and chaining the multiple blocks provides a second chaining tier.