Blockchain & Cryptocurrency , Next-Generation Technologies & Secure Development
Blockchain: The Good, the Bad and the Legal
Attorney John Salmon Assesses Cybersecurity Applications for Blockchain
As organizations investigate public and private blockchains to secure transactions and facilitate peer-to-peer transactions, they must ensure they know who's responsible, what the system is doing, what the cybersecurity and legal risks are and who's managing it, says attorney John Salmon.
"The key thing to remember is that it's an auditable, irrevocable, tamper-proof, distributed ledger," he says. "So it is much harder for people to hack into and much harder for people to change your records."
But that does not mean that this nascent technology comes free of risks, he warns.
In a video interview at Information Security Media Group's recent Security Summit: London, Salmon discusses:
- Potential upsides offered by using blockchains;
- Areas of concern, including fraud, hacking of data - before it gets added to the blockchain - and 50/50 attacks;
- Data protection and cybersecurity regulations and other legal challenges associated with using blockchain;
- Public versus private blockchains.
Salmon is a partner in Hogan Lovells' corporate practice group and works in the financial institution and technology, media and telecom sectors. He was previously a partner at Pinsent Masons, where he headed its financial services and insurance sector operations, among other "fintech" roles. His work covers IT procurement and outsourcing, cloud projects, cybersecurity, mobile payments and digital platforms.
