Blockchain Technology as a Decentralized Solution for Data Security and Privacy: Applications Beyond Cryptocurrencies in Supply Chain Management and Healthcare

Abstract

Blockchain, originally known as a technology underlying cryptocurrencies, holds great potential for increasing the data protection and privacy of various fields, for example, SCM and healthcare. The following research focuses on the aspects of blockchain other than monetary exchanges by analyzing its efficiency in protecting and organizing data. In this paper, we focused on four well-known blockchain algorithms, namely PoW, PoS, PBFT, and ZKP, to draw a comparison of their effects on the widgets database security and privacy. Comparing the results that were obtained from experiments, PoW and PoS were found to have strong security measures but are vulnerable to scalability and energy consumption. On the other hand, PBFT offers the required consensus with less energy utilization than PoW, whereas ZKP outperforms the others and offers privacy since data can be checked without revealing the data. For example, in the case of ZKP, it was found 25% better than PoW and PoS when it came to data privacy with ZKP giving a 30% less chance for data leakage in healthcare applications. This research shows that blockchain has a capability of improving the security and protection of data in various applications and therefore, there should be a call for more gimmicked privacy protection methods into the mix.