U.S. officials fear Russian meddling in power supply, electoral process.
A spate of articles in recent weeks has raised the alarm over Russian hacking, specifically as it pertains to the security of the U.S. power grid. Officials say hackers are shifting focus to the grid, though some maintain that mid-term elections this November will be a prime target for a cyberattack. Which may, others fear, simply serve as a warm-up for the general election in 2020.
One line of defense against such meddling could reside in distributed consensus technology, or blockchain.
On the one hand, the blockchain-enabled distributed energy systems have been hailed by many as an ideal use case for the blockchain distributed ledger, in which power generation and distribution data can be transparently and securely held in a decentralized network. ICOs for energy blockchains have raised over $300 million in the past year.
But perhaps lesser known is the potential application of blockchain for the electoral process. Back in May, West Virginia became the first U.S. state to cast votes in an official election using the technology. With the help of Boston-based startup Voatz, the state offered overseas military personnel the chance to cast their primary ballots via blockchain.
Describing the security of the process, the DC-based think tank Brookings Institution wrote:
“Under the technology that was used in the West Virginia elections, a voter’s identity is verified using biometric tools like a thumbprint scan before voting on a mobile device. Each vote forms part of a chain of votes, where it is mathematically proven by the third party participant. Using blockchain, all data of the election process can be recorded on a publicly verifiable ledger while maintaining the anonymity of voters, with results available instantly.”
Likewise, for the power grid, blockchain offers the security of consensus, meaning that the penetration of one weak spot would not be enough to disrupt the larger system. With industry experts anticipating 8 billion IoT devices coming online each year, the security of those devices will be paramount to the integrity of our rapidly evolving grid systems.
Among those on the frontier of the energy blockchain is Power2Peer. Committed to realizing a vision of communities living independently from centralized power grids, Power2Peer is seeking to make the sourcing of energy cleaner through renewable solar power, while also ensuring the security of such systems through the consensus of the blockchain. Security here means not only safety from remote hacking, but also a defense network of power that will keep running when extreme weather or peak demand knocks others offline. By utilizing the latest technology to create a more efficient system of power distribution, Power2Peer offers a safer, more reliable, and more sustainable energy future. Read more about Power2Peer and sign up for the mailing list to read the white paper today.
