The idea of combining blockchain services and a cloud operating environment has always been desired, but was held back due to security concerns in the past.
By launching blockchain services that meet the latest security standards on the cloud, IBM has just mitigated those concerns.
Blockchain on the Cloud
On April 29, IBM announced that it had launched a new framework for securely operating blockchain networks on the IBM cloud, that are designed to meet existing regulatory and security requirements.
IBM has utilized the services of its expert teams of security analysts, cryptographers and hardware specialists to create this framework, which is expected to be tamper resistant.
Jerry Cuomo, VP – Blockchain at IBM, says:
"Clients tell us that one of the inhibitors of the adoption of blockchain is the concern about security. While there is a sense of urgency to pioneer blockchain for business, most organizations need help to define the ideal cloud environment that enables blockchain networks to run securely in the cloud."
Compliant with latest Security Standards
The blockchain cloud services launched by IBM are compliant with the highest security standards, including Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS 140-2) and Evaluation Assurance Levels (EAL).
This is expected to satisfy client requirements in industries like financial services, government and healthcare, enabling them to use cloud blockchain services.
While hackers have always attempted to penetrate the security systems of financial services companies to steal money, hospitals have been the recent target of ransomware.
Eiji Ueki, Executive VP of NTT Data Corporation, explains:
"Blockchain is a highly innovative and promising technology. However there are a lot of issues to be solved for enterprise systems. IBM’s new blockchain cloud service is directly trying to address those issues. We believe this will help accelerate the maturation of blockchain technology."
Hyperledger Project
IBM has been at the forefront of Linux's Hyperledger Project, which is a collaborative effort to further blockchain applications.
IBM has released a signed, certified distribution of its code submission to the hyperledger project.
Hence companies will not be restricted to using the IBM cloud to run these secure cloud blockchain applications and have the flexibility to run it across platforms.
The advantage of open source code is that the benefits of its development accrues to the community as a whole, and not just the company which develops it.