Blockchain-Confidential Computing Combo Keeps Trade Data Afloat
Shipping companies need to keep accurate and secure data records but face several challenges. The cost of implementing digital solutions can be prohibitive, and the current systems can be inefficient, prone to errors, and vulnerable to cyberattacks.
In response, GSBN is partnering with Decentriq to bring data privacy technology to its blockchain consortium as a solution for the shipping industry.
An independent and not-for-profit technology consortium, GSBN (Global Shipping Business Network), is building a blockchain-enabled operating system for global trade. Its partner, Decentriq, is an enterprise SaaS platform providing data clean rooms.
“Collaboration with Decentriq allows us to cover a wider range of data-sharing scenarios and extend the use cases for our ecosystems beyond blockchain. We believe the next generation of blockchain consortiums will combine blockchain technology with other emerging technologies, such as confidential computing, enabling the aggregation of data from different sources and converting them into valuable insights while keeping them safe and secure,” said Edmund To, chief technology officer at GSBN.
GSBN provides a secure way for shippers, carriers, and logistics providers to share shipping data. Its platform uses blockchain technology with a strict access policy governing information visibility by role. The policy strictly follows a need-to-know basis.
However, specific scenarios that involve more than one single data contributor may require more complex data-sharing processes. For instance, the current platform does not allow aggregating data across many carriers or terminals.
This is where Decentriq data clean rooms come in. They leverage confidential computing (CC), providing a trusted execution environment at the hardware level, which no one can access.
Combining blockchain and Decentriq data clean rooms allows GSBN to guarantee data integrity and privacy, security, and auditability during the whole data lifecycle — at rest, in transit, and in use, whether on-chain or off-chain.
“CC is emerging as an inevitable technology to protect data in active use. While CC solves many problems around data integrity and data confidentiality in a very elegant and scalable way, it lacks some strong security guarantees on data immutability and ordering. Blockchain is the perfect fit to fill those shortcomings. It is great to see those technologies getting fully integrated into a turn-key solution for revolutionizing the global trade industry,” explained Stefan Deml, chief technology officer at Decentriq.
GSBN is currently developing use cases with Decentriq, such as sharing shipping activity insights from multiple shipping lines with financial institutions.
Image credit: iStockphoto/pxel66
