The U.S. Department of Defense research agency awarded two companies $1.8 million contracts to verify a data integrity monitoring system based on blockchain technology

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded two companies a $1.8 million contract to formally verify an integrity monitoring system that uses blockchain technology.

DARPA, an executive branch of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for developing advanced technologies for military use, awarded a $1.8 million contract to Galois and Guardtime Federal to verify the accuracy of Guardtime's Keyless Signature Infrastructure (KSI), an integrity monitoring system. In other words, a verifier that can verify a system used for authentication and monitoring.

According to the announcement, the contract will fund a ‘significant effort’ that will seek to advance the development of blockchain-based monitoring systems and tools required for all forms of authentication.

Galois is a Portland-based technology company that specialises in 'formal verification', a method for providing mathematical assurance that a system behaves as planned.

KSI on the public chain

The Keyless Signature Infrastructure (KSI) is a blockchain-based security technology developed by Guardtime, a collection of cybersecurity solutions led by a team of computer scientists, network architects, software developers and security experts.

The blockchain technology used by KSI uses a public ledger, just like the Bitcoin blockchain. Transaction data is recorded on the KSI ledger, removing the need for a trusted party for verification or authentication. Transparency and accountability are preserved without the need for keys.

For DARPA, KSI's capabilities are suitable for rapid detection of advanced persistent threats (APTs) that can persist in networks in an embedded form. Attackers often compromise network security through their APT capabilities and are often found to be the cause of complex network breaches.

This KSI monitoring system operates by continuously verifying the integrity of data, data processing personnel and the entire system. Essentially, this will increase the trigger sensitivity of a system's underlying cybersecurity infrastructure. In fact, the attack level can be mitigated while maintaining system integrity.

David Hamilton, president of Guardtime Federal, welcomed KSI’s formal verification of blockchain technology, saying:

“By applying this most sophisticated set of methods to our cyber defense infrastructure, we will test typical and unique boundary conditions that will enable us to further refine our defenses to protect the most valuable national security secrets and operating system configurations.”

While DARPA’s use of KSI has not been disclosed, the federal agency’s recent innovative research effort includes a proposal to develop a decentralized messaging platform based on blockchain technology.

At the same time, Guardtime's KSI will be deployed in the UK to ensure the safety of nuclear power plants.