Security Is the Key to Growing Fed Blockchain Interest

By Lloyd McCoy, Market Intelligence Manager

Blockchain technology is gaining interest from the federal government. This secure, decentralized and interoperable solution can reduce IT security costs – and that checks all the boxes in federal procurement.

Things are moving pretty quickly with federal blockchain adoption, which is significant given how the government can drag its feet on new technologies. Back in July 2017, the GSA held the first U.S. Federal Blockchain Forum to pose uses for the technology from 100 federal managers.

Since then, blockchain requirements have shown up in more solicitations throughout the federal procurement process.

OPM recently released a solicitation for an employee digital record with blockchain compatibility. FDA wants information about how blockchain can play into the Sentinel System for medical product safety monitoring. And back in May, DARPA awarded a grant for a secure chat program with blockchain as an underlying technology.

Why the interest? In a word: Security.

Blockchain uses unchangeable records to identify whether information has been changed or not. That’s important for concerns over the safety of electronic health records and federal online payment systems. And because blockchain is useful for cross-organizational security, it also taps into the government’s shared services requirements.

With blockchain audit trails, any authorized person or system can see into system changes and discover who made them. That improves attack detection and prevention.

If you’re a vendor with a blockchain play, you need to pay attention to all this movement inside the federal government regarding this innovative technology. Federal IT pros are still a little uncertain about all elements of blockchain, but ultimately a little uncertainty is a small price to pay for the promise of better security.

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This blog is adapted from an article originally published in CSO magazine online. The full article can be found at here.