Cybercrime poses a huge threat, costing the world an estimated $600 billion in 2017, up from $450+ billion in 2016. Among cybercrime is the threat of identity theft. In 2017, 16.7 million U.S. citizens were victims of identity theft at a $16.8 billion cost, up from 15.4 million victims at a $16.2 billion cost in 2016. These statistics indicate that cybercrime is a serious problem that continues to climb at a rapid rate.

Cybercrime can happen in a variety of ways including sending unsolicited emails, illegally downloading music, stealing personal bank account information, creating computer viruses, and so much more. With all of these options, it’s no wonder cybercrime is so high! Furthermore, technology changes so rapidly that businesses and individuals often use outdated technology. Using outdated technology presents a host of opportunities for cybercrime to occur.

As cybercrime continues to create challenges, companies continue to improve technology. A relatively new concept called blockchains is on the horizon, which may be the game changer in slowing down cybercrime. Blockchains are digital registers that permanently and securely store transactions. This technology uses a hierarchical method to save data in blocks, with each block pointing to a previous block with a timestamp of each transaction. This method makes it easy to trace and audit transactions. It is also a secure way of tracking transactions as data saved in blocks cannot be modified or breached. In addition, the decentralization of blockchains makes it hard for cybercrime to occur.

While the technology is in its infant stages, interest continues to increase. According to Statista, the blockchain technology market will rise from an estimated $210 million in 2016 to an estimated $2.3 billion by 2021. An increase in blockchain patent filings corroborates a significant increase in the field as blockchain patent applications more than doubled in 2017 with more than 1200 applications compared to 594 in 2016. Some of the biggest companies in the world are conducting research and filing patent applications, including Sony, Google, Microsoft, Bank of America, Walmart, MasterCard, IBM, and many others. Blockchains can support a variety of industries that conduct many transactions such as finance, real estate, healthcare, music, insurance, and many others, as evidenced by the various types of companies filing for patent protection.

As blockchain technology becomes more mainstream and more companies continue to file patent protection, potential exists for combatting cybercrime on a higher level.