On March 21, 2017, Gnùbila has taken part in the first wokshop on “Security Aspects of Blockchain” held by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs), where MHMD has received acknowledgment from the European Commission. 

Given the increasing role of blockchain in a wide range on innovative applications eliminating the need for 3rd party intermediaries (e.g. identity and credit management, distrusted/public/shared ledger, crowd-funding, P2P insurance, smart contracts, supply chain management, online voting, medical records, etc.), the wokshop was aimed at better understanding blockchain technology and its implication to security and analyzing and evaluating the current status of blockchain technology and its maturity, as well as discussing many relevant open issues, including security and privacy aspects related to blockchain applications and possible means for extending on-line trust using blockchain technologies, providing a platform to share findings and for dialogue on policy and regulatory implications of blockchain between enterprises working on blockchain applications and regulators from various industrial-/economic sectors.

The audience included ITU Member States, ICT Regulators, Financial Service Regulators, Policymakers, Mobile Network Operators, Digital Financial Service/Platform Providers, International Standards Organizations, NGOs related to global trade and Academia.

The workshop will be followed by ITU-T Study Group 17 (Security) meeting (22-30 March 2017) at the same venue, which is expected to receive more than 120 government officials, telecom/ICT industry and academia experts from more than 30 countries from all over the world. More information on ITU-T SG17 can be obtained on the SG17 website.