EBI files patent for Blockchain Drive to prevent ransomware attacks

Everything Blockchain Inc. (EBI) has filed a patent application for a data protection approach based on a blockchain platform.

Cedric Harris, research director for EBI, said that EBI Blockchain Drive (EB Drive) will give IT teams a means to prevent ransomware attacks. An pristine copy of data will also be made available via an immutable ledger running on a blockchain platform that synchronizes data using a chain-of-event consensus algorithm. In the event of a ransom attack, data can also be rolled back at any time.

EBI has developed a scalable blockchain platform that is capable of processing transactions in less than milliseconds; it is now looking to use the platform for a variety of uses, Harris said. EB Drive is designed to be built into hardware platforms connected to the blockchain platform, he explained.

Graphing technologies will then be used to keep track of the various EB Drive nodes. The nodes are interconnected using the gRPC framework, which ensures that nodes only communicate with other nodes they have been explicitly allowed to access, Harris explained. This approach enables the EBI to maintain a zero-trust IT platform, he added.

Providers of data protection platforms have, of course, tried to ensure that pristine copies of backed up data are available on their platforms in the event of a ransom attack. However, the EBI argues for a blockchain-based approach that makes copies of data more readily available instead of forcing organizations to wait to determine if an untouched copy of a dataset can actually be recovered.

CISOs, in particular, are looking for alternative approaches to recovering data that are easier to implement and maintain, Harris said.

It is too early to say what role immutable blockchain platforms can play in ultimately preventing ransomware attacks, but it is clear that older approaches do not solve the problem. Cybercriminals today often encrypt backups of data first to ensure that nothing can be recovered before launching their main attack.

It may not be immediately possible to use a blockchain platform to secure all data, but some organizations may decide that there are certain types that guarantee a more advanced approach to security. Regardless of the viability of blockchain platforms as a data protection solution, the appetite for experimentation is high as the volume of ransomware attacks continues unabated.

Hopefully, cybersecurity and IT operations teams that manage data will continue to work together to either prevent these attacks or at least limit their impact. There may be no way to prevent ransomware attacks from being launched, but everyone involved agrees that it is simply too easy for cybercriminals to paralyze organizations by maliciously encrypting data. In the meantime, organizations can take comfort in the fact that research and development efforts to prevent these attacks may finally be on the horizon.