Oracle executives: Blockchain can be applied to all walks of life and will become an important pillar of the digital world

Subramanian Iyer, vice president of Oracle's insights and customer strategy department, recently published an article introducing the application of blockchain technology in several industries. He believes that blockchain technology will become an important pillar of the digital world.

Companies often protect their data by building firewalls around it. Unfortunately, this means that data is only accessible to those who can find it.

Anyone who gets to the access point and inside the firewall is vulnerable - including rogue administrators who have access.

However, with blockchain technology, transactions and data, once written to the blockchain, cannot be changed unless all or a majority of participating computers reach a consensus to agree to the modification. This approach is a significant departure from traditional firewalls and can reduce backdoor transactions to almost zero - making blockchain invaluable to organizations in all industries trying to protect data.

What is blockchain?

Blockchain is an encrypted, distributed database shared across multiple computers, or nodes. It is one of the most exciting technologies because of its potential to reduce the possibility of security breaches, even from its own operators.

In the traditional process, rogue administrators may change historical transaction data due to the level of data access they have. However, if blockchain technology is used in the data center, the modification of data requires a lot of teamwork - greatly reducing the possibility of data tampering. The wider the network environment, the more difficult it is to modify the data.

The financial services industry is a pioneer in exploring the use of blockchain technology for cryptocurrency transactions. Bitcoin uses blockchain technology as its underlying technology. 11 banks in the R3CEV consortium have connected to the Ethereum blockchain network. The Estonian government has been using blockchain-based technology (keyless signature infrastructure) to verify data in its database since 2013.

It is clear that blockchain can improve the security of data exchange between industries. At the same time, it can also make data transfer between entities easier and more convenient.

Medical

If digital signatures are used on blockchain-based data, access to the data will only be allowed after verification by multiple people. This can regulate availability and protect the privacy of medical records. In addition, several groups, including hospitals, doctors, patients and insurance companies, can become part of the entire blockchain to reduce fraud in the medical payment process.

national defense

Unauthorized access or modification of critical defense infrastructure, such as operating systems and network firmware, could pose a serious threat to national security. For most countries, defense infrastructure and computer systems are distributed in different locations. Blockchain technology distributed in different data centers can ensure the security of critical networks and hardware facilities when they are attacked through consensus-based modification conditions.

government

Inefficiencies in government departments can delay the exchange of information, thus negatively impacting citizen services. If the information data of various departments is linked to the blockchain, it can ensure that the data is published in real time when the government departments and citizens agree to share data. Blockchain technology can increase transparency and check corruption in governments around the world.

law

Blockchains can hold vast amounts of data, including complete contracts. The impact of smart contracts — contracts facilitated or enforced using blockchain technology — will have far-reaching implications for a wide range of industries. Smart contracts eliminate the need for middlemen, such as law firms, and payments are automatically made when certain conditions are met. By their very nature, smart contracts are easily enforceable electronically, creating a powerful third party by taking the control of a single institution out of the hands of the other party.

energy

Microgeneration is becoming a major trend in the power generation industry. New energy projects such as home generation and community solar are filling gaps in the electricity supply. As microgeneration joins traditional power generation suppliers, it promotes the establishment of an energy market. Smart meters can register the electricity produced and consumed on the blockchain, allowing consumption of excess energy in various places, providing points or currency to the initial energy producers. These points can be redeemed when microgenerators need additional electricity.

With such a wide range of potential applications, it’s no wonder that blockchain has the potential to improve the quality of services while also improving data confidentiality and integrity. Blockchain technology also promises to provide secure and transparent transactions, and looks set to become one of the main pillars of the digital world.

Subramanian Iyer