Publication date: July 04, 2024
To start, we first need to clarify what "enterprise-grade" security means and why these principles and techniques are essential for a stable and secure system. Understanding this will show how they can significantly enhance public blockchain systems.
"Enterprise-grade" refers to security solutions that meet the highest standards of security, scalability, and reliability. These solutions are designed to comprehensively protect infrastructures, adhering to established and globally recognized security standards and norms, such as ISO/IEC (International Organization for Standardization / International Electrotechnical Commission), NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology), IETF ( Internet Engineering Task Force), CIS (Center for Internet Security), ENISA (European Union Agency for Cybersecurity), etc. These standards promote structured frameworks and best practices that form the basis for developing and implementing security systems. A fundamental element of an enterprise-grade security solution represents a comprehensive collection of security policies that govern user behavior. This collection includes policies for data processing, access management, incident response, and data protection, including GDPR requirements for protecting personal data. These policies ensure that all security measures are transparent, consistent, and up-to-date. Regular, thorough audits are a core component of these security strategies. They ensure compliance with internal and external regulations and verify that all security policies and controls are implemented effectively. Audits help identify and rectify vulnerabilities in the security infrastructure before attackers can exploit them. In summary, an enterprise-grade security system is characterized by its high level of structure, comprehensive control mechanisms, exceptional stability, advanced security measures, thorough monitoring, and strict adherence to regulatory standards.
Integrating these elements into public blockchain systems can significantly enhance their security and compliance, particularly in managing access rights and responding to security incidents. By applying these proven security practices and adhering to stringent regulations and standards, public blockchain solutions can achieve a level of security suitable for environments with high demands on security and privacy. The combination of the inherent security benefits of blockchain technology with the comprehensive security mechanisms of enterprise-grade solutions creates a robust and secure infrastructure that meets modern requirements.
Public blockchain solutions already offer robust security features such as cryptographic encryption, data integrity through their decentralized architecture, adherence to defined policies through governance models, and the execution of audits. However, they often lack standardized security guidelines that are globally recognized and validated. Many blockchain networks implement various approaches that conform to several global security standards, creating unique security models that are specifically applicable. The issue here is the absence of a universally standardized specification that sets the general security guidelines and recommended practices for Web3 as a whole. Standardized guidelines would offer the advantage of having a foundational specification ready for implementation when setting up a blockchain network. By implementing proven guidelines and measures established by internationally recognized security organizations, the applicability of blockchain solutions can be increased. Compliance with these guidelines also serves as "proof" that the blockchain system meets the highest security standards, which is highly beneficial for implementing various services that typically consider such standards as requirements.
The initial phase of the Logos Project addresses the topic of security (resilience of a blockchain). Recognizing the previously mentioned problem (no general overall security guidelines for a Web3-based system) and the need to find a solution, we decided to conduct research on enterprise-grade security in public blockchain networks. We aim to analyze and review multiple approaches and solutions to provide a standardized security specification based on standards and norms from organizations such as ISO, NIST, etc. The initial implementation will be conducted in the Substrate framework to demonstrate the feasibility of the model and prove its general applicability, thereby providing enterprise-grade security to our public blockchain component (Logos chain).
The first draft of the research paper, version 0.1.0, has recently been published. The initial version includes an introduction and motivation for our approach, as well as how the research reports and specifications will be provided. The second chapter presents the case study, defining security in a blockchain network and outlining general enterprise-grade requirements, along with some specific already known requirements.
Link to the research paper: Enterprise-Grade Security in Public Blockchain Networks (opens in a new tab)
In this paper, the complex topic of security has been divided into four areas: Identities, Access Control and Key Management; Cryptographic Mechanisms and Data Privacy; Consensus Mechanisms and Network Security; Auditing, Policies, and Regulations. Each of these areas will be thoroughly examined to find practical and valuable solutions. The current (draft) specifications in the research paper define the basic prerequisites for each area. A detailed research report will be provided for each of the four security areas, which will be published in phases within the research paper. Once the results of this research is available, a security model will be proposed, completing the research paper, which will then be published as a comprehensive research and specification document.
Since we are discussing enterprise solutions, which often involve private parties or consortia, it is crucial to emphasize that the solution provided must and will be a completely trustless, where trust is placed solely in the technology.
As mentioned earlier, the Logos Chain will utilize the Substrate framework, likely requiring the development and implementation of several modules to integrate the devised security model. The approach is to provide the specifications in a way that they can be generally considered, allowing implementation in other frameworks based on the same specifications.
Having released the initial version and established the general rules and requirements for the research, we are now focused on the detailed analysis and provision of results for the area of Identities, Access Control, and Key Management. Once the report on this topic is published in the upcoming weeks, it should become clear how strictly such elements are handled in enterprise systems and what level of security and privacy is required for a Web3 system that can be considered a highly secure one.
We will continue to report our progress and insights into the subjects we address, as community participation is crucial in finding the right solutions. This work (research) aims to ensure that blockchain security does not differ from enterprise standards but rather positions blockchain as a high-security solution in general.
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References:
- Center for Internet Security - https://www.cisecurity.org/services (opens in a new tab)
- Chainalysis blog - The Importance of Blockchain Security (opens in a new tab)
- General Data Protection Regulation - https://gdpr-info.eu (opens in a new tab)
- Hyperledger Fabric Documentation: Security Model - https://hyperledger-fabric.readthedocs.io/en/latest/security_model.html (opens in a new tab)
- International Organization for Standardization - https://www.iso.org/sectors/it-technologies (opens in a new tab)
- International Electrotechnical Commission - https://www.iec.ch/cyber-security (opens in a new tab)
- Internet Engineering Task Force - https://www.ietf.org/technologies/security/ (opens in a new tab)
- LogosLabs documentation - About Logos network - https://docs.logoslabs.io/learn/logos-general/aboutLogosNetwork (opens in a new tab)
- LogosLabs blog - Decoding the sub0layer: Technical Overview and Future Prospects - https://blog.logoslabs.io/year_2024/decoding_the_sub0layer (opens in a new tab)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology - https://csrc.nist.gov/ (opens in a new tab)
- Research Paper: Enterprise-Grade Security in Public Blockchain Networks - https://github.com/logoslabstech/logos-resources/blob/main/research/enterprise-grade-security-in-public-blockchain-networks/enterprise-grade-security-in-public-blockchain-networks.pdf (opens in a new tab)
- The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity - https://www.enisa.europa.eu/topics/standards (opens in a new tab)