Method for Ensuring Integrity of Aggregated Monitoring Data Using Blockchain Technology

Abstract

As the complexity of information systems increases and the requirements for information security become more stringent, there arises a need not only for the collection and analysis of monitoring data but also for ensuring their immutability over time. Traditional monitoring systems do not provide protection against unauthorized modifications of metric history, which limits their applicability in contexts that require transparent auditing. This work proposes to address this issue using blockchain technology. The proposed approach involves daily extraction of key monitoring metrics for the previous day, followed by hashing of the aggregated data. The resulting hash is transmitted to a smart contract deployed on the public Ethereum blockchain, where it is stored along with a timestamp. For verification, a software module was developed that retrieves data from the monitoring system and compares their hash with the one stored on the blockchain. A prototype implementation has achieved full automation of the process of recording and subsequently verifying aggregated metrics. The verification procedure reliably detects any data tampering by comparing hashes. While the proposed method does not eliminate the risk of recording tampered data in the event of a trusted party being compromised, it does ensure a transparent and immutable history of recordings, allowing for retrospective detection of violations. A key advantage is its independence from the organization's internal infrastructure and the ability to perform verification using open tools.