Blog

 

Having your data decentralized – stored in multiple locations instead of just one – makes complete sense because it protects it from getting lost. Also, it makes it easier to access and less vulnerable to fraud. Blockchain is one method for decentralizing data. As the massive amounts of investment into cryptocurrencies would suggest, blockchain is a viable way to make information secure and easily accessible – but for reasons we will get into, the technology may need a few tweaks before it can be used in a private business setting.

 

Blockchain works by having a large number of computers connected to a network create blocks and link them into a chain. A block consists of a bit of new information and a condensed version of the full, current version of the chain. This means that for any old information to be changed, every single block that comes after must also be altered. While this part of the technology does make it more secure, it leads to two problems: slowness and ‘hard forks.’

 

Before a block can get added to the chain the information in it must first be validated (or checked for accuracy) by every single computer connected to the network. This means it can sometimes take a while for a change to be made, even a tiny one, because you have to wait for every machine to get done checking. Furthermore, say you want to make a change to the system itself – doing so would mean having to update every computer connected to the network because a computer running old software will lead to failed consensus. This creates what is called a ‘hard fork.’

 

Maybe having a system that accepts partial consensus some of the time would fix this issue. You can develop a tiered system, where you only have to wait for full consensus if the information being checked is really important. Or, you could segment it and have different subnetworks only be responsible for checking certain types of information. You would still have to wait for full consensus, but since there would be fewer machines checking a given block it would take significantly less time.

 

A ‘Byzantine fault’ is when a system that is checking itself for faults doesn’t know whether one of its parts that is checking itself is itself faulty. Blockchain theoretically is highly capable of preventing Byzantine faults – but only when it is running smoothly. It would take one measly line of code before one half of your network gets out of lockstep with the other and ends up causing serious problems.

 

For making your data safe and easier to access, there are plenty of other options. You can install a backup server that creates a copy of your data nightly. Or, you can pay a cloud storage company to house your data for you. You may not actually even need a new system – you might simply just need to learn how to use the one you have better.