Accenture Integrates Blockchain Technology with Thales Hardware Security Module to Address Key Risks for Financial Services, Government, Healthcare and Other

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) has unveiled a patent-pending solution that simplifies the ability of blockchain technology to integrate with the industrial-grade security systems that support sectors, such as financial services, healthcare and government. The solution provides a developer-friendly interface between emerging blockchain platforms and widely used hardware security technology. Accenture cooperated with Thales — whose hardware is currently used by most major banks globally to secure records and assets from cybertheft — in order to develop the solution.

Hardware security modules (HSMs) are crypto-processors that securely generate, protect and store digital keys – cryptographic material that provide security and access to digitally-stored information. The keys stored in the Thales HSM architecture cannot be extracted or used except under a highly controlled protocol. The new solution is based on the market leading nShield HSM developed by Thales and creates a simple path to large-scale commercial use of blockchain technology.

Blockchain is quickly maturing across industries and is set to profoundly change how businesses operate,
But current applications cannot meet the high security standards of most mission-critical IT infrastructure. That is because the digital keys used to secure and validate messages and transactions historically have proven vulnerable to network attacks. Our solution provides the physical security that banks have relied on for decades to keep money and transaction records safe from cyberthieves. It will clear a wider path not only for banks but for governments, insurers, healthcare providers and others to do real-world deployments of blockchain technology.
Simon Whitehouse, senior managing director and head of blockchain technologies at Accenture

Currently, blockchain-based systems typically rely on “cyberwallets” to store digital keys for blockchains. But because those keys typically reside on software servers, they can become vulnerable to network breaches, of the kind that have occurred on cryptocurrency exchanges in recent years. Accenture’s and Thales’s HSM solution makes it extremely difficult if not impossible for digital keys to be misappropriated because they are stored in physical isolation from IT networks and are architected with highly sophisticated, deterministic security mechanisms. In addition, the platform need only be installed once, allowing companies to secure each of their blockchain applications using the same solution—regardless of which blockchain software or application they use—versus crafting a code interface for each solution.

The opportunity to benefit from blockchain technology within sectors like financial services and healthcare depends on an ability to protect digital keys using conventional standards of security. While there have been bespoke blockchain integrations with HSMs before, this solution offers a simpler and more flexible standard to connect blockchain platforms with the leading HSMs. We are committed to delivering these types of real-world innovations that will serve as the stepping stones to make blockchain technology a reality for large-scale enterprises
David Treat, managing director, financial services blockchain lead at Accenture

Solution highlights

The Accenture and Thales solution is based on Fabric, a Hyperledger technology. Hyperledger is a global, open source collaborative effort of more than 100 major companies focused on advancing cross-industry blockchain technologies. The interface can also be adapted for other leading blockchain technology platforms.
 

Many security-conscious institutions rely on HSMs to safeguard and manage their digital keys and protect things like ATM machines, mainframe operations, point-of-sale (POS) machines and to verify and sign SWIFT messages – they are used in virtually any application that requires secure, verified digital signatures. While most people have no idea of the role of an HSM in securing sensitive information, it’s a technology used every day. For example, HSMs in a bank’s data center are used to validate your PIN when you withdraw cash from an ATM, or validate the transaction cryptogram when your purchase goods at a merchant POS terminal – in both cases only the HSMs under the bank’s control have access to the correct keys to perform the secure processing.