Certihash has announced that it will work with IBM Consulting, the professional services and consulting arm of IBM, to build a new ‘Sentinel Node’ cybersecurity detection tool on the Bitcoin SV (BSV) blockchain. An early MVP of the application is expected to launch within the next six months. 

Sentinel Node is the first in a suite of five planned blockchain-powered enterprise utility applications, which will be built in line with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) framework. The tool aims to leverage the power of the BSV blockchain to greatly reduce the time required to identify a data breach and therefore the total cost of cyber-attacks against enterprises. 

BSV is the only public blockchain capable of unbounded scaling with low transaction fees and high data throughput. It also offers a stable and reliable protocol, and an immutable record of transactions secured by proof-of-work, making it the ideal protocol on which to build the Sentinel Node cybersecurity detection tool.

Certihash co-creator Bryan Daugherty notes that the time taken to detect cybersecurity breaches is one of the primary factors in the overall cost and severity of an attack. This is backed up by a recent study by IBM, which found that it requires an average of 212 days to identify a security breach and then a further 75 days to contain it.

Sentinel Node is designed to address this problem by using BSV for the real-time detection of network anomalies. 

‘Over the last decade, technology has struggled to effectively prevent and consistently detect cybersecurity breaches. “Sentinel Node”, which is the first of five planned Certihash releases, represents our innovative solution for real-time detection of network anomalies and events. Cybersecurity is no longer about prevention alone, it is about detection at the earliest possible moment,’ Daugherty says. 

‘As the time to identify network breaches lengthen and cyber-attacks continue to occur in greater intensity and frequency, fresh solutions are required to replace the lack of confidentiality, integrity and availability in our networks and data. Sentinel Node will provide an entirely new level of cyber threat detection and alerting.’ 

The power of Sentinel Node on BSV 

Certihash states that it selected IBM Consulting to assist with the development of Sentinel Node due to the company’s vast experience in cybersecurity and deploying decentralised applications for enterprises, stating that the company’s knowledge will be ‘critical’ in designing and implementing Sentinel Node. 

In this capacity, IBM Consulting’s primary goal will be to assist Certihash in addressing business problems and find the best technology solutions to solve them. 

Sentinel Node will be deployed on BSV, which Certihash believes is ideally suited to meet the rigorous requirements of the cybersecurity standards they hold themselves to.

‘By combining the critical information security of a Proof of Work consensus protocol, with the sustainable scaling capabilities, BSV blockchain, the protocol behind Certihash Sentinel Node, enables a foundation for connected systems that can help to make better, real-time decisions, increase the efficiency of energy usage, and improve the overall quality of life,’ says Greg Ward, co-creator of Certihash.

The software will feature the following capabilities: 

• Unalterable, centralized log collection and normalisation
• Automated threat detection, response and immutable audit trail
• Real-time monitoring of system health and performance of network through a single pane of glass (SPOG)
• Distributed data processing and file integrity monitoring
• Compliance reporting tools
• Actionable cyber-threat intelligence for investigation, forensics and response

Certihash has been working on the underlying technology behind the Sentinel Node tool for the past two years, stating that the solution has been designed to provide real-time cybersecurity monitoring for major data-sensitive sectors, such as banking, capital markets and the energy sector. 

The marquee functionality of the Sentinel Node solution is its use of the BSV blockchain to deliver a chronologically registered ledger of time-stamped digital records that are immune to manipulation and do not depend on an intermediary which may potentially become compromised in an attack. 

‘The final phase of every successful data breach is obfuscating the evidence. After gaining entry to the network, a bad actor will clear their tracks to avoid being traced and apprehended. Certihash “Sentinel Node” silently stands guard over the network, immutably recording access logs, while simultaneously alerting system administration upon a breach, attempt or anomaly,’ Ward explains. 

All these features make Sentinel Node a revolutionary and powerful watchdog program for companies that rely on valuable data that needs to be stored as securely as possible. 

Jamie McKane
McKane