Blockchain technologies and their application in security software development

Abstract

Current factors like the rising frequency of cyber threats and vulnerabilities on centralized platforms indicate the inefficiency of conventional network security frameworks, leading to new solutions such as the blockchain. This review systematically reviews developments of blockchain technologies in the context of security software (2021-2023) to evaluate its efficacy and challenges and explore the future potential. 77 peer-reviewed papers from ScienceDirect, IEEE Xplore and Scopus; adopting the PRISMA guideline, records were screened down from 1,532 to 77. Empirical evaluations (35%), case studies (28%), and theoretical frameworks (37%) using Joanna Briggs Institute tools and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale were used in mitigating bias. Our results show that blockchain has strengths that add to data integrity (89% of studies) and security of the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem (28 studies) and supply chains (15 studies). Nevertheless, blockchain-based authentication has reduced latency by 284% (342 ± 112 ms) compared to a traditional system and has tradeoffs with scalability and performance. Research is skewed towards finance (47%), missing healthcare (9%), and critical infrastructure (6%). It does not include sufficient interoperability standards, post-quantum cryptographic validation, etc. The adaptive regulations are urged for policy implications for editable blockchains and hybrid Artificial Intelligence (AI) blockchain architectures. Interoperability should be taken care of by cross-chain protocols, scalability trilemmas and real-world adversarial testing must be addressed by the researchers and practitioners must put priority on scalability. This review, in its totality, brings out the singular role of blockchain in complementing the existing security solutions instead of replacing them. It calls for cross-disciplinary involvement and partnership in harnessing technical innovation in a regulatory framework to tackle cybersecurity threats through outsider and insider security approaches.