Page 249 - Artificial Intelligence for the Internet of Everything
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228   Artificial Intelligence for the Internet of Everything


          •  Interoperability advantages of blockchain technology: DLT provides a public
             multicast communication platform where a sender can reach a large audi-
             ence that can both read and write to blockchain. Dynamic communica-
             tions between generators and consumers may facilitate the move from
             centralized generation to next generation peer-to-peer energy
             exchanges.
          •  100% availability: Blockchain provides a reliable, distributed mechanism
             for tracking dynamic data sets.
          •  Strong immutability: Despite properties that make data in a blockchain
             very difficult to mutate, some examples of mutations exist, such as forks
             and or blockchain hacks that required rolling back the blockchain. That
             said, permissioned blockchain technology solutions, such as keyless sig-
             nature infrastructure (KSI), provide a time-stamped and cryptographi-
             cally signed electronic transaction that would be very difficult to
             change. As cyber-physical systems increasingly converge and automate
             transactions, logs of immutable data sets are especially important to val-
             idate and verify the integrity of the system and its transactions. Immuta-
             bility, however, can also lead to a number of challenges. For example, in
             one recent incident, child pornography was saved in a Bitcoin block-
             chain (Suberg, 2017). When illegal images or data are saved in the block-
             chain, it can be very difficult to change the content. Another potential
             way to change the blockchain is to control or compromise 51% of the
             nodes needed to reach a consensus. This subterfuge could potentially
             be accomplished by gaining root access to an internet service provider
             that supports the majority of the blockchain nodes and undermine the
             blockchain’s consensus algorithm by compromising a majority of
             the nodes.
          •  Big data management blockchain: Blockchain facilitates the distribution of
             prodigious data sets between organizations. Data can be synchronized,
             archived, and audited between multiple parties.


          12.6 THE EVOLUTION OF PUBLIC KEY INFRASTRUCTURE
          ENCRYPTION

          All modern organizations require secure and reliable access to electricity to
          function. Securing our critical energy infrastructure from evolving cyber
          and physical threats is imperative. As energy infrastructure becomes more
          autonomous and distributed, there also needs to be an evolution in how crit-
          ical field devices, control systems, and supervisory control and data
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