Chain of Things, a consortium that supports collaborative development on an open source standard to secure Internet of Things (IoT) devices, today announced the launch of a case study on solar panels and a London conference on 1st of June 2016, covering Blockchain-based IoT security.
“Solar is at the root of the coming 3rd industrial revolution – Blockchain and IoT technologies are at the crossroads of this technology and will enable it to flourish further. Today, 240GWp of solar installations have been grid connected,” said Francois Sonnet of ElectriCChain.
“By 2040, the International Energy Agency expects an additional 5,000GWp of solar power, translating into upwards of 200 million decentralized solar applications. Securely linking solar production data to the ElectriCChain Blockchain will enable solar owners to share production data and help create a first of a kind global monitoring platform for Global Climate Change and Meteorological purposes.”
In 2016, there are more connected devices than human beings. By 2020, it is estimated that there will be between 50 and 200 billion connected devices all collecting, relaying, and automatically actioning data. Cybersecurity is the biggest priority in an ever-connected world. We have seen numerous hacks with disastrous consequences for business and even governments. This will only get worse.
When you look at the state of IoT today, it doesn’t take a genius to see that there is a security blackhole. No one checks their terms of business when they buy a connected device. If they did, then they would learn that the company disclaims all liability for everything. This is not good enough.
Blockchain is the most secure database in the world that has never been hacked. The bitcoin Blockchain is an online monetary system – if you put money on the internet then surely, more than anything else it will be hacked. But bitcoin Blockchain is still there and standing strong.
So can these simple security properties within Blockchain technology serve and secure IoT? That is the purpose of the Chain of Things consortium. To deal with the most pressing problem that everyone would prefer to avoid.
Their first investigation is a practical case study connecting devices to different Blockchain protocols and seeing whether that approach is more secure than the way things are done in IoT today.
They have brought together a few key partners, one to provide solar panels and a device to record the data from the panel, another to provide a device that will run at least two Blockchain technology systems. Based on that, the solar data will be recorded and pushed onto the Blockchains. They will look at the security of adding, maintaining and moving that data on the ledgers. If the security dimensions of Blockchain technology start to make sense, then this event signals the beginning of the build of an open Blockchain IoT standard.
Protect yourself from the danger of a connected world. Come and join us (click here) on the 1st June 2016 if you have an interest in security and IoT. If you’d like to join Chain of Things as a Partner, please email info@chainofthings.com
