CSEC 670 IA1-Emerging CyberSecurity Technologies

IA1-Emerging CyberSecurity Technologies: Blockchain Cesar Cobena CSEC 670: Cybersecurity Capstone University of Maryland University College Michael Lavine February 19, 2017 Table of Contents CHAPTER PAGE Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………3 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..4 What is Blockchain?.........................................…………………………………………………4-5 Blockchain: A Brief History?.........................................………………………………..………5-7 Blockchain Technology and its Main Features……………………………………………..…7-10 How an Organization Would Use Blockchain Technology…………………………..……...10-12 Real World Examples of the Use of Blockchain Technology………………………………..12-14 Benefits and Drawbacks of the Government’s Efforts in Supporting Blockchain Tech……..14-16 Real-world Examples Supporting the Decision………………………………………………16-17 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………17-18 References……………………………………………………………………………….…...19-21 Abstract As we just concluded the sixteen year after Y2K, huge technological developments have shifted businesses as well as personal efforts to depend on cyber interactions i.e. cloud technologies, internet access, 3D printing, mobile devices, e-mail, etc. as the primary way of communications (Coy & Kharif, 2016). Both private and the public sector to include entities such as the healthcare system, Wall street bankers, and even the U.S. government have adapted technologies that employ computer networks for cloud storage, payment transactions, and information sharing to name a few. However, when doing all these sensitive intellectual assets become vulnerable permitting increased intrusion efforts by illegitimate users. (Yan et al., 2012). The blockchain is primarily a digital ledger where one can find all the transactions that conducted through the use of cryptocurrencies, especially those within the Bitcoin network. The elimination of functions that third-parties perform during financial transactions is one of the aspects that illustrate the effectiveness of the blockchain technology. Once a transaction is registered, the technology broadcasts it to every Bitcoin user, and this network can determine the operation’s legitimacy. The distinctive features of blockchain technology can enable software development companies to use it for the protection of software copyright. Factors such as financial innovations, the economic transformations, and the development of the Internet have significantly affected the banking sector in many regions, and this indicates why blockchain can revolutionize the current technology. The use of the blockchain technology enables these institutions to achieve point-to-point value transfer and asset digitization, and this has the effect of restructuring the financial structure. However, the handling and storage of the digital currencies can have security concerns considering that some of those with malicious intentions can access other users’ digital wallets and transfer the money to themselves. Introduction As wireless technology, have now become a modern utility comparable to water or electricity for everyday consumption, a larger environment of security has been commercialized. In combination with appropriate training aimed to essentially eradicate human error, an emerging technology like blockchain would be able to combat many of the increasing pains of the internet age. Many people have heard of Bitcoin, the digital cryptocurrency that could change the way payments are conducted. However, fewer people, know about its underlying technology: blockchain. In a nutshell, blockchains are shared, tamperproof, peer-to-peer digital ledgers that enable a single, global version of transaction truth. (Coy & Kharif, 2016) An increasing number of business processes and transactions are taking place online, and while this has enhanced business performance, there has to be trust between the parties involved in the undertaking. Since the emergence of the Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, economic transactions that take place online do not require the need for a central bank to ensure trust and security. The crypto-economy has thus emerged as an economic system that makes use of cryptographic techniques to facilitate transactions without being defined by political, geographic, or legal boundaries (Weber et al., 2016). Even though there has been tremendous technological advancement aimed at dealing with cyber security threats, blockchain technology is an emerging technology that will enhance the fight against cyber attacks. What is a Blockchain? A blockchain is a shared, disseminated, resistant to tamper database that each partaker on the network can share, however, is not control by any entity. In other words, a blockchain is a database that keeps digital archives. Additionally, the database is shared by a collection of network partakers, allowing them the right to submit new records for insertion. Yet, those records can only be added to the database if the arrangement or compromise of much of the group allowed it. Furthermore, after the records are added, they can never be altered or deleted. In other words, blockchains records and protect digital data with such technique that it turns into the group's agreed-upon record of the past. (Gault, 2015) Blockchain: A Brief History The blockchain technology was originally suggested in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto (a pseudonym) in combination with the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Nakamoto's idea was to “allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.” (Nakamoto, 2008) However, without a reliable centralized authority to manage the transactions involving the accounts potential investors feared that there would be no way to thwart fraudulent actors from spending the same Bitcoin twice. Nakamoto’s solution was a distributed database of consensus-based, time-stamped, that would use cryptography to mark transactions to create a record that cannot be altered – a blockchain. (Mohit & Tyle, 2015) Bitcoin turn into a usable currency in 2009 and subsequently it has capitalized the market going from zero to over $6.3 billion, as of May 2016. Every day nearly a quarter of Bitcoin's 6.6 million owners exchange over $75 million in 120,000 digital transactions across the network. (The Economist, 2015) Bitcoin is a significant real word illustration of blockchain’s technology potential to revolutionize the cyber/computer security industry. For example, every single Bitcoin coins, each Bitcoin transaction/deal, and even all the Bitcoin accounts that have been created is documented and recorded in a blockchain database that exists on the internet wide open. It is even completely visible to any hostile efforts of criminal organization, governments, and hackers. Despite been available on the open Bitcoin blockchain has not once been hacked. (Wessel, 2016) Evidently, blockchain technology warrants more research and additional studies. Although "blockchain" was practically pseudonymous associated to Bitcoin for some years, it ought to make clear that the two are distinct technologies. Bitcoin just happens to be the first popular application to employ blockchain, like email when it was the first popular application of the internet. (Mohit & Tyle, 2015) Blockchain’s potential is so immense that supporters equate the maturity and ground-breaking capacity of blockchain technology nowadays to the same revolutionary potential of the internet in 1992, previously to the world-wide web. However, since blockchain technology merely uses the present internet infrastructure, the maturity of blockchain technology is expected to develop three times faster when compared to the internet. For example, experts predict that blockchain mainstream use is projected within the next eight years. (Gault, 2015) Commerce has already recognized the great potential of blockchain technology. For example, since 2013, over $1 billion of venture money has been devoted into 120 blockchain start-ups. (Piscini, E. et al., 2016) Their objectives cover several industries, ranging from banking and finance, to the tracing and trade of indivisible possessions, such as art, and diamonds. But the interest did not stop at start-ups, it has extended beyond that to the point that large, companies such as Lockheed Martin, IBM, and Goldman Sachs have also started exploring possible blockchain applications in their own sectors. (Mohit & Tyle, 2015) Blockchain Technology and its Main Features The blockchain technology has been necessitated by the advances in cryptography and the decentralization of computer networks. As the electronic payment systems are gaining momentum, it is necessary to keep track of the transactions done through peer-to-peer networks. The blockchain is primarily a digital ledger where one can find all the transactions that have been conducted through the use of cryptocurrencies, especially those within the Bitcoin network (Beck et al., 2016). This database is unique in the sense that it is resistant to tampering even though the network is open to anyone making electronic transactions. The use of the blockchain technology eliminates the need for a third-party that has to verify the credibility of each of the transacting parties. This cyber security technology facilitates the automatic verification and recording of the electronic transactions, and it achieves this through cryptographic algorithms (Weber et al., 2016). This approach ensures that there is no need for a central authority or any third-party such as a financial institution for the detection of malicious or unreliable nodes within the network. Therefore, the participants in a peer-to-peer network do not have to know each other for them to make a transaction. Blockchain technology works through the principle of public key cryptography just like any other process that requires secure data communication. Each agent that participates in an electronic transaction is assigned a private and public key, and the operation begins when the recipient of the digital tokens shares the public key with the other party (Weber et al., 2016). By acting as a digital ledger, the blockchain keeps the records of all the transactions for the items held in a commonly accessible network. The verification of electronic transactions is done by linking the public keys to the transacting parties, and anyone can do this since the keys act as anonymous identifiers (Beck et al., 2016). Each electronic transaction is then recorded, and it becomes part of the blockchain. The elimination of functions that third-parties perform during financial transactions is one of the aspects that illustrate why the blockchain technology is useful. Some of the responsibilities of a third-party in any financial transaction include the prevention of double transactions, validation of the transaction, and keeping records of the undertaking (Mainelli & Smith, 2015). These factors establish trust between the transacting parties, and they enable cooperation between them. The structure of the blockchain makes it possible to achieve all these while keeping the history of all the transactions done through the digital currency. The verification of electronic payments can only be possible through the evaluation of all the previous ones, and the technology achieves this through mining. The blockchain data structure is comprised of a set of blocks that represent all the transactions, and the verification of the previous blocks enhances the efficiency of the process (Foroglou & Tsilidou, 2015). Besides, the computational modification of a block, once it becomes part of the chain, is difficult, and this is the reason that a transacting party cannot make duplicate transactions using the digital currency. Since the blockchain contains all the records of the transactions that people have done, no entity can have total control over the cryptocurrency used to make online transactions. Besides, every transaction is unique in the sense that it has data packages that identify it, and cryptographic techniques ensure their integrity (Weber et al., 2016). The irreversibility of transactions is the other feature that characterizes the blockchain technology, and it distinguishes it from any other arrangement done by the traditional financial institutions. Following an electronic transaction, the miners would add it to the blockchain so that the transacting parties cannot make duplicate transactions (Jaag & Bach, 2016). This aspect illustrates that once a user makes an unintended payment using the cryptocurrency, the only way that one can recover the claim is by asking the recipient to do a reversal. Tracking a cryptocurrency user that does not intend to reverse a transaction is difficult considering that the blockchain offers the transacting parties pseudo-anonymity so as to prevent identity theft (Jaag & Bach, 2016). Double-spending is an issue that can hinder the effectiveness of electronic transactions, but the blockchain technology addresses this problem. Once a transaction is registered, the technology broadcasts it to every Bitcoin user, and this network can determine the operation’s legitimacy (Foroglou & Tsilidou, 2015). The approval of the transaction would then allow the recipient to accept the digital currency, after which the blockchain becomes updated. The network of Bitcoin users would, therefore, act as the party that creates trust between the transacting parties since they would notice when anyone uses their cryptocurrency more than once. Even though this validation approach is useful to some extent, other Bitcoin users might employ an automated system to make their transactions appear valid. The blockchain technology, however, deals with such issues through the proof-of-work concept where network users incur computational costs of validating transactions (Kiviat, 2015). How an Organization Would Use Blockchain Technology Numerous entities have applied the blockchain technology, and its use is not limited to securing electronic transactions alone, even though this is still its principal application. The fact that the blockchain technology allows parties without mutual trust to conduct transactions even without a third party illustrates that it is an effective decentralization model. Software developers have relied on methods such as license validation, the use of a paper-based key code, and utilizing hardware devices for the protection of copyright (Herbert & Litchfield, 2015). The distinctive features of blockchain technology can, however, enable software development companies to use it as well in the protection of software copyright. Software piracy occurs when someone copies or distributes software without the required authorization from the vendor, and most people to do so due to the Internet’s availability. The primary techniques of software license authorization are few due to issues such as the high computing power necessary for encryption (Herbert & Litchfield, 2015). The current practices of validation of a software license can become more efficient through a mechanism that facilitates the generation of unique values that can be verified without being regenerated, and a cryptocurrency blockchain can achieve this. The fact that the blockchain structure is made up of a peer-to-peer network illustrates that a software vendor can apply it to keep a record of the licenses that the end users have acquired. The decentralization of software validation can take place through the use of cryptocurrency, and this would represent an individual’s entitlement to software (Herbert & Litchfield, 2015). The method that a software vendor might apply for the validation of software licenses can vary depending on the model used. The conventional models that one can use to validate software licenses include the Bespoke Model and the Master Bitcoin Model (Herbert & Litchfield, 2015). In the Master Bitcoin Model, there has to be a representative of the license ownership, as well as a transaction that indicates the origin of the cryptocurrency. A vendor creates an address on the blockchain, and this represents the software. When the vendor loads his address with bitcoins and transfers them, they would act as an entitlement to the software (Herbert & Litchfield, 2015). Since the end user cannot conduct the transaction through digital currency, the vendor would transfer the ownership of the Master Bitcoin to the person that purchases the software, after which the transaction would be validated. The Bespoke Model utilizes a digital signature to indicate that an end user is entitled to a particular software application, and this can be used in place of a bitcoin. The vendor cannot use a bitcoin with this model since the digital signatures cannot be representatives of the virtual currency (Herbert & Litchfield, 2015). The possession of a digital signature by the end users is the only way of giving them an entitlement for the use of the software. Since the specifications of the blockchain vary from one digital currency to the other, the cryptocurrencies have unique features that meet the specifications of their purpose. Real World Examples of the Use of Blockchain Technology The success that this technology achieved with the bitcoin is the primary reason why financial institutions are beginning to consider how they can develop their blockchain concepts. The global financial and technology giants including Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, IBM, and Microsoft have invested in blockchain technology (Guo & Liang, 2016). Factors such as financial innovations, the economic transformations and the development of the Internet have significantly affected the banking sector in many regions, and this indicates why blockchain can revolutionize the current technology. Financial institutions have been flocking to the blockchain, as illustrated in this CB Insights graphic below. Various blockchain consortiums have come up to promote the application of this technology in the major financial institutions. Some of the leading financial institutions including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and Barclays Bank have joined the R3 blockchain consortium with the intention of enhancing the technology’s back-end processing efficiency (Guo & Liang, 2016). However, these institutions might be considering the potential that blockchain might have on the reduction of their operational costs. A large number of financial institutions from China have established the China Financial Blockchain Consortium that intends to address problems such as increased risk in the sector and low profitability (Guo & Liang, 2016). The traditional banking sector in China faces multiple issues, and the financial institutions that have formed the blockchain consortium have to increase product and service innovations through technological growth. The marketization of the financial sector in China has recently increased as a result of the booming Internet finance, resulting in the diversion of savings and an increase in the cost of debt (Guo & Liang, 2016). The innovations in the financial sector in China have the potential of offering capital market participants a variety of options, hence providing personalized and convenient services. As a result, the traditional banking industry faces significant competition, and this is the reason that the financial institutions have to consider restructuring the current technology through blockchain. Some of the financial institutions in the Chinese banking sector had to identify new sources of growth to facilitate a reversal in the downward trend. Through the use of the blockchain technology, these institutions can achieve point-to-point value transfer, as well as asset digitization, and this has the effect of restructuring the financial structure. As a result, the banks would notice a sharp increase in the process efficiency in settlement of financial assets, and at the same time reducing costs (Guo & Liang, 2016). The fact that blockchain technology can make it possible for parties that have no mutual trust to conduct transactions eliminates the need for centralization, which is costly. Most of the people who relied on financial institutions as third-parties while making payments must have stopped using those services due to the lack of efficiency and poor delivery of service. However, blockchain technology facilitates point-to-point payments without the need for third-parties that increase the transaction costs and could be a tedious process (Guo & Liang, 2016). The storage of customer details is essential in the financial sector, and the fact that credit agencies can utilize blockchain technology to record big data make it possible for institutions to share it too. The Chinese banks intend to store customer information in the databases, and then utilize encryption to upload the information so that it may be retained in the blockchain (Guo & Liang, 2016). Benefits and Drawbacks of the Government’s Efforts in Supporting Blockchain Technology As many people are currently making electronic transactions, any government would have seen the numerous advantages of the blockchain technology. However, any system that gets to be involved in the financial sector cannot fail to have risks. One of the benefits that a government agency might get through the use of the blockchain technology is to ascertain the authenticity of records (Condos, Sorrell. & Donegan, 2016). The blockchain technology achieves this through the confirmation of those who submit a document, the contents of the file, and the time that it was presented. The network can detect whether a record contains false information since it has to be validated. The use of blockchain technology can enable government agencies to reduce the costs incurred in private recordkeeping. Blockchain technology achieves this by eliminating the need for a body that verifies the authenticity of records and centralized recordkeeping (Condos, Sorrell. & Donegan, 2016). Any government agency recognizes the significance of information in areas such as legal or regulatory compliance, transparency, and accountability, and this is the reason that blockchain technology is essential for managing it. However, the parties that engage in business transactions through the blockchain have to preserve the electronic documents so that they can be confirmed by comparing them to others in the blockchain. Even though the government might not be directly involved in the transaction of financial assets through blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, it cannot turn a blind eye to its utility. Additionally, certain functions in the public finance sector are utilizing this technology, and they have reported benefits such as the reliability of the digital ledger and the reduction in staff members needed (Condos, Sorrell. & Donegan, 2016). When the government supports the use of blockchain technology in securities clearing and trading, there would no longer be delays that pose liquidity risks. The benefits associated with the government’s efforts in supporting the use of blockchain technology are many, but there are risks that correspond to the same. The protection of consumer concerns is the responsibility of the government, but since many commercial transactions are conducted through blockchain, some people can engage in malicious acts (Condos, Sorrell. & Donegan, 2016). The handling and storage of the digital currencies can have security concerns considering that some of those with malicious intentions can access other users’ digital wallets and transfer the money to themselves. The decentralization of the cryptocurrency makes it subject to volatility since no government or organization is backing it, and hence, it creates consumer risks. Equally significant, the government cannot entirely encourage the use of blockchain-based currencies considering that they are not a good store of value (Kiviat, 2015). The use of commodity money is common, and this has destabilizing effects considering that it links a nation’s economy to a scarce resource. The other aspect that illustrates the risks that might arise when the government encourages the use of blockchain technology in the economic sectors is the disruption of markets (Condos, Sorrell. & Donegan, 2016). Since the blockchain does not require a third-party in electronic transactions, there could soon be a significant reduction in the number of intermediaries needed in the financial system. The government’s backing of the blockchain technology might result in the replacement of the procedures used to record transactions, process them, as well as conduct an audit on them as the transacting parties interact directly. The elimination of third-parties as people make electronic transactions might reduce the costs, but there would be losses in employment for people that used to work in the back-offices (Condos, Sorrell. & Donegan, 2016). Real-world Examples Supporting the Decision The efficiency of the blockchain technology as an innovation in the financial sector is apparent, and cannot be ignored. This technology has features that enable the conduction of a transaction, including auditing and record keeping, and it facilitates trade without incurring transportation costs. The Automated Clearing House is a system that facilitates electronic payments in, and it moves more than $40 trillion annually with a rapid end-to-end payment speed (Kiviat, 2015). While this system eliminates the need for third-party costs, it saves the federal government funds that could have been spent to process the payments. Cryptocurrency theft is an example of how one can access a particular peer-to-peer network and uses confidential information in the form of private keys to having access to the cryptocurrency. An incidence of cryptocurrency theft affected Mt. Gox, which was an exchange platform that lost Bitcoins worth approximately $365 million, after which the firm filed for bankruptcy (Jaag & Bach, 2016). The adoption of the cryptocurrency is, therefore, difficult especially because there often lacks trust between the transacting parties, and the digital currency is limited in supply. The possibility of information warfare is another downside to the use of blockchain technology, and this is an issue that might strain the relationship between China and the U.S. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has a conceptual framework that is primarily a combination of computer network operations and electronic warfare which can attack critical information systems (Grumman, 2009). The use of electronic warfare such as is the same as defying the intellectual property rights of another party through integrated networks, and this renders the enemy’s information systems useless. The PLA has been reported to attack some systems belonging to the U.S., and this shows that unclassified information from the private sector, as well as the government, is now accessible (Grumman, 2009). Conclusion I believe that the capability of the U.S. government to succeed in the highly challenged environment of 2040 will be marked by its capacity to effectively carryout data protection techniques and procedures. That is, defending one's capability to produce, store, distribute, develop, evaluate, and exploit information while thwarting with the enemy's ability to do the before mentioned activities. Evidently, carrying out this must contain a mean of protecting cyber-enabled devices from compromise. Yet current cyber protection is uncertain and is unlikely to progress given the ever-evolving cyber threat. The main problem is that this threat comprises not only an increasing collection of malware and embedded computing systems, but the threat also favors adversary’s tactics for data manipulation by simple stealing the data. Blockchain technology works through the principle of public key cryptography where each agent that participates in an electronic transaction is assigned a private and public key. Following a transaction, the miners would add it to the blockchain so that the transacting parties cannot make duplicate transactions. The success that this technology achieved with the bitcoin is the primary reason as to why financial institutions are beginning to consider how they can develop their blockchain concepts. The benefits associated with the government’s efforts in supporting the use of blockchain technology are many, and even though there are risks that correspond to the same I think the benefits outweight the risks. For example, blockchain technology offers what I believe (in my humble opinion) it would change various of the flawed norms of commonly used network security. Firstly, blockchains assume there is both insiders and outsider compromise because they are trustless; Secondly, blockchains are transparently secure; do not depend on failure prone expressions, instead they rely on a cryptographic data structure which offers a secure infrastructure that allows adding extra security procedures. Finally, blockchains are fault-tolerant; they use algorithmic compromise mechanisms to line up efforts of nodes that are honest and discard those that are dishonest. When combined, blockchain properties let system engineers reconsider the most important architectures of cyber systems and networks. References Beck, R., Stenum Czepluch, J., Lollike, N., & Malone, S. (2016). Blockchain–The Gateway to Trust-Free Cryptographic Transactions. ECIS 2016 Proceedings, 1-14. Condos, J., Sorrell. W., & Donegan, S. (2016). Blockchain Technology: Opportunities And Risks. Vermont Office of the Attorney General. Coy, P. K. (2016). This Is Your Company on Blockchain. . Retrieved from The technology would turn a company into a seamless network of coordinated freelancers. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-25/this-is-your-company-on-blockchain. Foroglou, G., & Tsilidou, A. L. (2015). Further Applications Of The Blockchain. In 12th Student Conference on Managerial Science and Technology. Gault, M. (2015). “Forget Bitcoin — What Is the Blockchain and Why Should You Care?,” Retrieved from http://recode.net/2015/07/05/forget-bitcoin-what-is-the-blockchain-and-why-should-you-care/ Guo, Y., & Liang, C. (2016). Blockchain Application And Outlook In The Banking Industry. Financial Innovation, 2 (1), 24. Herbert, J., & Litchfield, A. (2015, January). A Novel Method For Decentralized Peer-to-Peer Software License Validation Using Cryptocurrency Blockchain Technology. In Proceedings of the 38th Australasian Computer Science Conference (ACSC 2015) (Vol. 27, p. 30). Jaag, C., & Bach, C. (2016). Blockchain Technology And Cryptocurrencies: Opportunities For Postal Financial Services (No. 0056). Kiviat, T. I. (2015). Beyond Bitcoin: Issues In Regulating Blockchain Transactions. Duke LJ, 65, 569. Mainelli, M., & Smith, M. (2015). Sharing ledgers For Sharing Economies: An Exploration Of Mutual Distributed Ledgers (aka blockchain technology). The Journal of Financial Perspectives, 3 (3), 38-69. Mohit, K., Tyle, S. (2015). The Blockchain: What It Is and Why It Matters. Retrieved from http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/techtank/posts/2015/01/13-blockchain-innovation-kaushal. Nakamoto, S. (2008). Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. Retrieved from https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf. Northrop Grumman. (2009). Capability Of The People’s Republic of China to Conduct Cyber Warfare and Computer Network Exploitation. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Piscini, E. et al. (2016). Blockchain Democratized Trust: Distributed Ledgers and the Future of Value. Retrieved from http://dupress.com/articles/blockchain-applications-and-trust-in-a-global-economy/. The Economist. (2015). The Great Chain of Being Sure about Things. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21677228-technology-behind-bitcoin-lets-people-who-do-not-know-or-trust-each-other-build-dependable. Weber, I., Xu, X., Riveret, R., Governatori, G., Ponomarev, A., & Mendling, J. (2016). Untrusted Business Process Monitoring And Execution Using Blockchain. In International Conference on Business Process Management (pp. 329-347). Springer International Publishing. Wessel, D. (2016) Beyond Bitcoin: The Future of Blockchain and Disruptive Financial Technologies. Retrieved from http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/events/2016/01/14-bitcoin/20160114_blockchain_bitcoin_transcript.pdf. Yan, Y., Qian, Y., Sharif, H., & Tipper, D. (2012). A survey on cyber security for smart grid communications. Communications Surveys & Tutorials, IEEE, 14(4), 998-1010. [NOTE]: I mentioned on the paper that no government have officially adopted blockchain for official business, however, I came across an article on February 08, 2017 announcing that the government of Georgia signed an agreement to use the Bitcoin Blockchain to verify property transactions. I just wanted to mention this but I did not included on my paper because I had already completed my research. This is a huge step toward pushing blockchain to the mainstream channels. As the article stated “This is the first time a national government is using the Blockchain to safeguard and authenticate state operations, therefore ushering in a belief in the technology that has wrongfully been painted black”. (d'Anconia, 2017) d'Anconia, F. (February 08, 2017). The CoinTelegraph. Georgia Becomes First Country to Register Property on Blockchain. Retrieved from https://cointelegraph.com/news/georgia-becomes-first-country-to-register-property-on-blockchain LOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY 20 Running head: BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY 1