US: Department of Energy uses blockchain for cyber security for power grid amid growing vulnerabilities
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), a Department of Energy (DOE) research institute, is exploring the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT), or blockchain technology, to make power grids impervious to cyber security attacks.
ORNL notes that DLT may hold the key to solving the existential threats plaguing America’s energy grid. The team argues that the decentralized nature of distributed ledgers creates multiple hash copies, triggering an alert if nodes have inconsistent data.
“Our system helps determine in near real time whether a failure was triggered by a cyber attack or induced by natural events,” said Borges Hink, ORNL team leader. “This is the first implementation of blockchain that enables this type of data validation between a substation, a control center and metering infrastructure.”
Using DLT has the added benefit of preventing hackers from targeting devices through changes to their settings. Storing a digital fingerprint of the settings on the blockchain and monitoring it for unusual changes has the potential to thwart the activities of bad actors on the power grid.
ORNL notes that the distributed ledger experiments are timely, given the rise in security vulnerabilities in the nation’s power grid. A report by the US Government Accountability Office (GOA) observed “multiple points of vulnerability” in the system, such as an attacker compromising high-wattage networked consumer devices.
DLT has made a previous foray into cyber security for energy grids, with Xage collaborating with DOE on several projects. Furthermore, the Blockchain for Optimized Security and Energy Management (BLOSEM), a coalition of over five energy laboratories, has also dabbled in DLT and energy grid security.
An increase in bold attacks
Malware attacks involving digital assets have been on an upward trajectory in 2022 and show little or no sign of slowing. In May 2021, Colonial Pipeline suffered the largest publicly disclosed cyber attack in the United States, costing the firm millions of dollars in ransom.
In response, law enforcement agencies told citizens to prepare for an increase in ransomware attacks in the coming days, with hospitals and educational institutions the main targets.
North Korea has been identified as playing a leading role in the activities of ransom gangs. Groups operating outside the country have obtained almost $400 million worth of digital assets in the past 12 months, using mixers to launder the funds.
“From 2020 to 2021, the number of North Korean-linked hacks jumped from four to seven, and the value extracted from those hacks grew by 40%,” said a Chainalysis report on the matter.
Watch: BSV Global Blockchain Convention Presentation, Sentinel Node Collaborates with IBM to Improve Cybersecurity
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