A Comprehensive Study of Blockchain Services: Future of Cryptography

Abstract

Cryptography is the process of protecting information from intruders and letting only the intended users’ access and understand it. It is a technique originated in 2000 BC where simple methods were used in earlier times to keep the information in a way that is not understandable by everyone. Only the intended receiver knows how to decode the information. Later, as technology advances, many sophisticated techniques were used to protect the message so that no intrusion can invade the information. Many mathematically complex algorithms like AES, RSA are used to encrypt and decrypt the data. Due to the advancements in the computer science field, recently, cryptography is used in the development of cryptographic currencies of cryptocurrencies. Blockchain technology, a distributed ledger technology identified to be the foundation of Bitcoin cryptocurrency, implements a high-level cryptographic technique like public-key cryptography, Hash Functions, Merkle Trees, Digital signatures like Elliptic curve digital signatures, etc. These advanced cryptographic techniques are used to provide security to blockchain data and for the secure transmission of information, thereby making Blockchain more popular and demandable. Blockchain applies cryptography in various phases, and some of the techniques used in Blockchain are advanced in cryptographic sciences. This paper intends to provide a brief introduction to cryptography and Blockchain Technology and discusses how both technologies can be integrated to provide the best of the security to the data. This paper reviews the various cryptographic attacks in Blockchain and the various security services offered in Blockchain. The challenges of blockchain security are also analyzed and presented briefly in this paper.