There are security issues in the blockchain that need to be addressed. No doubt, blockchain technology is one of the greatest inventions for this world which was created for giving financial freedom to everyone for the first time but now, applications of blockchain technology aren’t just limited as a financial tool.
Till now, different types of blockchain networks are created like a public blockchain network, private blockchain network, consortium blockchain, etc. These sort of blockchain networks have their own consensus algorithms like PoW(Proof-of-Work), PoS(Proof-of-Stake), PoA(Proof-of-Authority), etc.
The blockchain is based on complex programming so any sort of blockchain software can exhibit the bugs at any time and hackers might get benefits by detecting such bugs to attack. Different types of blockchain networks are already created after the Bitcoin blockchain network and developers of such blockchain believe they have tried to minimize the different issues to secure the blockchain but the security issue has always been the key issue to be addressed properly. So, this article attempts to cover the different blockchain challenges and how trained IT professionals might solve such problems in the future.
Security Challenges:
51% Attacks Especially, PoW blockchain networks are often suffering from this sort of attack in which the malicious miners get rolled out to produce 51% computing power to achieve the consensus even for their fake transactions. A recent example, this sort of attack has happened in the Ethereum Classic blockchain network multiple times. Clearly, the PoW blockchain network with fewer miners and hash power is vulnerable to this attack.
Flaws in the code written for blockchain
This problem is relatable even for the biggest decentralized blockchain networks like Ethereum and Bitcoin itself, check here. Especially, when the core blockchain developers release the code updates, which could consist of some sort of bugs to affect the blockchain. If attackers managed to detect such weakest points in the blockchain, they could manage to drain the coin/tokens in their favor.
Protocol Backdoors/ Rogue Developers
Not all developers from all blockchain networks are trusted. Some of them can secretly adjust the system to withdraw or issue excessive amounts of coin/token without the pre-warning to investors and even a single developer can collapse the entire project. It means, even the trusted project can make the scam exit without showing any sort of the classical scam signs.
End users
In this case, the problems persist from the user’s end. Definitely, blockchain has created some sort of complexities regarding the usage and accessibilities of the funds without sacrificing security. So, most of the users still love to hold their crypto assets inside the hot wallets of some exchanges or the online wallet because it will be enough to remember the login details of such platforms or they can even recover the passwords. Some smart people choose the hardware wallets, backup the secret phrases somewhere, and access the funds (whenever they need them) by entering the seed phrases, this is the way to provide extra security for your assets but the hot wallet can be attacked by the hackers to steal the funds.
Endpoint’s vulnerabilities
After performing different activities like trading and saving the crypto within a certain online platform, a huge amount of the crypto will be stored in the virtual saving accounts or the hot wallets of the platform which are less secure to the hack. Most of the blockchain transactions have endpoints and the transactions are facilitated by involving third-party vendors and such vendors often have the weakest system to welcome the hackers.
Insufficient testing on a larger scale
Some blockchain-based applications (which are used to communicate with the blockchain layers) can be left untested for certain devices. If there are vulnerabilities, hackers may target the system to create further damages. Nowadays, so many blockchain-based applications are evolving like the mushroom without having the larger-scale testing of their software which will put users at the huge risk of losing their assets.
Possible solutions:
So, the IT experts and the computer scientists should get rolled out to find the following solutions against the above challenges:
- If the larger numbers of wallets key of the customers have to be stored in the servers, there should be strong encryption and necessary security measures to secure the data.
- Developers can upgrade the protocols of the blockchain which are vulnerable to the 51% attack plus developers should develop the immune system against the 51% attack.
- Blockchain-based institutions should be extremely careful while choosing the trusted vendors otherwise they will be the key players to expose sensitive information to hackers.
- Developers should release the updated codes after performing enough tests and trials so that there will be fewer chances of detecting the bugs.
- Blockchain-based applications should be tested widely before letting them communicate with the blockchain layers.
- Awareness is also needed for the users to use blockchain-based services and products.
- Almost all blockchain networks in production, have at least one or more demerits so the developers should invest the new and secure blockchain solutions to solve all the persisting problems in the blockchain sphere.
Final Thoughts:
Blockchain technology has solved so many real-world problems but the bugs and wormholes can affect the entire ecosystem of the blockchain network. Developers should find the best way to tackle the privacy and security issues associated with blockchain technology. Decentralization is the key factor to encourage users to trust in the blockchain network, any sort of centralization attempt in the blockchain sphere can welcome the bad actors so let’s believe in decentralized and highly secured blockchain solutions.