1. Introduction
The hype cycle of emerging technologies is a unique cycle that refines various unique technologies into must-know technologies and trends. It’s a graphical representation that shows the maturity and adoption of technologies and is used the information technology firm Gartner. It shows the maturity of various emerging technologies through its five phases or stages, discussed below. The phases include; Technology triggers which are nothing but media stories and interests that lead to the publicity of a potential technology breakthrough. The second phase is the peak of inflated expectations. Herein success stories are produced where some companies adopt the technology, whereas others are reluctant (Ahram et al. 2017). The third phase, which is the trough of disillusionment, is where the technology’s interest fades as experiments fail. The technology fails to satisfy the early companies or people who adopted it, investment or funding decline. The fourth phase is the slope of enlightenment; this is where people and companies now fully understand the benefits of the technology, and the providers produce more of the products. The fifth phase, which is the last phase, is the plateau of productivity, where now the adoption of the technology is massive, and the technology has a broad market that is paying off. It may even grow beyond its niche market.
For the case herein, this paper will look at blockchain technology as an emerging technology trend and specifically use blockchain technology in cybersecurity. Blockchain is a technology that allows data to be stored on multiple servers allowing users to access the records in real-time, and therefore it makes it difficult for one to hack or cheat the system (Crosby et al. 2016). According to Gartner (2019), blockchain technologies are entering the trough of disillusionment. The technology has not lived up to the hype, and most of the projects in various enterprises are in experimentation mode. The technology is not enabling revolutions across businesses. According to Gartner (2019), the technology may be full operationally more than five years to come where it will have reached the plateau of productivity. The technology mentioned above will be evaluated on its effectiveness and efficiency in helping curb cyber threats and assessing success rates. Blockchain technology is essential in cybersecurity since, due to decentralization in controlling the network and verifying the information passing through the network, it’s hard for hackers to hack (Wang et al. 2019). The technology can be utilized in various forms to optimize various systems’ security and prevent cyberattacks from happening ranging from IoT devices to private messaging and many others.
2. Critical Evaluation and Justifications for the Requirements for Data Generation.
Data Generation refers to using various methods by researchers to create or collect data from a specified sample source in a study. It involves the various procedures that researchers pit in place to collect data relevant to carrying out their respective studies and make conclusions on whatever topic they are researching or studying (Muir et al. 2016). For the data generation process herein, the data to be used first must serve this study’s purpose. It should be accessible, shareable, and joinable with other datasets; it should be diverse; that is, it should be from various firms or enterprises that have implemented or use blockchain technologies for cybersecurity. For the case herein, open-source data or published data will be used to evaluate the use of blockchain technologies in cybersecurity (Nilufer & Erol 2020). Open source or published data first is free to use for your reasons and can be modified to suit your specifications. In this study, open-source data is used due to its numerous benefits mentioned below. The data is transparent, meaning that oversight is done on the data provided by various experts. The data showing how blockchain technologies are used in addressing cybersecurity issues and its effectiveness will be subjected to scrutiny to ensure that the data provided by various firms are accurate (Sinaeepourfard et al. 2016). Open-source data also comprises data from various enterprises that have implemented blockchain technologies and, therefore, will provide a large amount of data for us to assess the effectiveness and success rate of using the technology in cybersecurity. Accessing open-source or published data is free, which means the cost to be incurred in the whole of the data generation process will be avoided, thus lowering the cost of carrying out the study.
The data used herein is from various enterprises and organizations that have implemented or are using blockchain technologies. The data depicts the main uses of blockchain technologies in various enterprises and the success rate of using the technologies in various applications, which includes cybersecurity, among many other applications. Therefore, the data used herein serves the purpose of this study, and it has been taken from well trusted open-source data sites. Consequently, it’s high-quality data that will help us evaluate the use of blockchain technologies in cybersecurity.
3. Critical Evaluation and Justification of the Technical Business Case of the Technology
Blockchain technologies or blockchain-based solutions are among the commonly considered solutions for cybersecurity, which are always among the top priorities for the CEOs and board members in various enterprises. Through the use of its distributed ledger technology, it protects companies and other entities from cyberattacks, which are prevalent nowadays and even more sophisticated due to technological growth (White & Daniels 2019). The technology helps decentralize storage units, which means that the hackers have no single-entry point as it’s the case for a centralized storage unit. The technology can also be used in IoT devices to make security decisions on their own without help or reliance on central security, enabling it to block suspicious nodes, making it difficult for attacks or hacks to hack (Demirkan et al. 2020). By using the technology, DNS can be decentralized to make it difficult for hackers to exploit single vulnerable points, as it’s the case for a centralized DNS. For the case herein, efficiency, effectiveness, and usability of technology in cybersecurity will be used as the framework for evaluating the technology. The effectiveness of using the technology in cybersecurity will be determined to see if the use of technology has lowered the number of cyberattacks in various enterprises using the technology (Smith & Dhillon 2019). The technology’s efficiency in curbing cyber threats is also to be determined and its usability, which will help us understand if firms are using the technology for cybersecurity or are using it for other applications.
From the datasets obtained from the published open-source datasets, the use of blockchain technologies in cybersecurity is on the rise as many firms have prioritized cybersecurity and the implementation of blockchain technologies to boost cybersecurity and prevent other related attacks. On the usability of the technology, blockchain technologies in cybersecurity are among the top applications of blockchain technology, and it comes second after cryptocurrency. It, therefore, shows that various firms are using the technology in curbing cyber threats. The enterprises using blockchain technologies also reported a drop in cyber-attacks experienced ever since they launched the blockchain technologies in cybersecurity. Thus, it’s effective and efficient in curbing cyber-attacks since it removes risks of single-point failure and provides the data’s privacy.
4. How Does Blockchain Technology Contribute to Cybersecurity
Blockchain technology contributes to cybersecurity through encryption and decentralization architecture which prevents data theft, fraud and other forms of cybercrime. The use of blockchain technology has led to a reduction in cyber-attacks, basing on the data by Guard time a startup company based in Estonia, the use of blockchain technology helped secure more than a million records in the year 2016 using a Keyless Signature Infrastructure (Heston 2017). Using the open dataset downloaded from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1065809/awareness-of-blockchain-population-in-italy/ on the awareness of Italians on the use of the technology, the results as analyzed in SPSS software shows that a higher percentage of Italians associated blockchain with cryptocurrency whereas the rest associated it with cybersecurity as shown in Fig 3 in the appendices. The technology is used widely in protecting IoT devices, network protection among other uses in various organization as shown in Fig 1 in the appendices.
5. Conclusions and Recommendations
Decentralization is the key factor when it comes to using the blockchain technology in cybersecurity. When data, DNS, and other essential items are decentralized, it becomes difficult for hackers to hack, meaning security is enhanced and reduced (Priyadarshini 2019). Decentralization removes the single target point, which for a long time, hackers have exploited to attack the system. However, the technology faces challenges just like any startup, and therefore, more funding and research need to be undertaken in this area. Enterprises should, however, prioritize cybersecurity issues and set aside funds to be used in the implementation of this technology to boost cybersecurity and prevent other attacks on traffic services.
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