2.3.2.4 Private Networks

return to Network Access Control

A private network limits access to the network to individuals or nodes granted and verified to have permission to participate in joining, leaving, reading, writing, and auditing activities on the network. A participant joins a private network only through an authentic and verified invitation; validation is performed either by the network operator(s) or using a clearly defined set of protocols implemented by the network¹⁾.

• Note: Recently, the idea of Private Networks as more secure is seriously challenged by the Zero Trust Security Model which basically states that establishing a secure perimeter is not enough to establish a trust to the individual or the machine. Especially with the advent of cloud-based architectures and people needing to use multiple devices from inside and outside the confines of the secure perimeter.

• Enterprise Permissioned²⁾:
  The enterprise controls the resources and access to the blockchain, hence private and/or permissioned.

• Faster Transactions³⁾:
  When you distribute the nodes locally, but also have far fewer nodes that participate in the ledger, performance is faster.

• Better Scalability⁴⁾:
  Being able to add nodes and services on demand can provide a great advantage to the enterprise.

• Compliance Support⁵⁾:
  As an enterprise, you would likely have compliance requirements to adhere to; having control of your infrastructure enhances ability to satisfy this requirement more seamlessly.

• Consensus More Efficient (fewer nodes)⁶⁾:
  Enterprise or private blockchains have fewer nodes and usually a different consensus algorithm, such as BFT vs PoW.