Hala Systems will use Hedera’s distributed ledger to power the Sentry warning system
Enterprise-grade distributed ledger, Hedera Hashgraph, announced yesterday that they were joining forces with Hala Systems — a social project that uses innovative technology to develop solutions for civilian and asset protection. Hala Systems will use the Hedera Consensus Service (HCS) to verify the origins of data by providing an immutable chain of custody for digital files such as audio, video and photos.
Although Hala Systems has previously used the Ethereum blockchain, they found that the high and variable fees of its smart contracts, its probabilistic consensus and slow confirmation times made it unsuitable for their purpose. The Hedera proof-of-stake public network, on the other hand, uses hashgraph consensus to achieve fast transaction speeds, low fees and the highest-grade of security possible.
CEO and Co-founder of Hedera Hashgraph, Mance Harmon, commented “Hala Systems is on a noble mission to protect civilians worldwide. Together with the company’s other partners, including the United Nations, UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, the US State Department, and other foreign ministries, we look forward to being part of this conflict management solution. We are humbled that Hala Systems is leveraging the HCS to provide an additional layer of trust and transparency for conflict management and prevention.”
Hala’s primary product is Sentry, an indication and warning system that uses a multi-sensor network and artificial intelligence to validate information and predict threats. It can analyse data such as social media alerts, visual warnings and audio sirens to coordinate first responder efforts and provide early warning notifications to people in disaster zones.
CEO of Hala Systems, John Jaeger, added “Online information can be easily manipulated and faked, and yet it informs crucial decisions and impacts lives. Hedera’s distributed ledger provides Hala Systems with reliable data provenance, in which the public can view digital media and be confident about its authenticity. The impact this will have on our management of humanitarian crises globally will be profound. Hala Sentry empowers civilians to record immutable data from their smartphones, warning others of potential dangers, accurately documenting events as they happen, and providing global stakeholders with credible records upon which to base decisions.”
Sentry is used by 2.1 million people in Syria, issuing 140 early warnings per day on average and providing seven to ten minutes’ notice of approaching crises. Analysis verified by Exigo showed that since 2017, Sentry was correlated with reduced traumatic anxiety for 250,000 Syrians and a 10-30% mean reduction in net casualty rates due to airstrikes.