What is a Centralization vs Decentralization vs Distributed Networks?

Centralization, decentralization, and distributed networks are three different systems used for storing data.

Centralization has been the status quo for web technology, making websites easy to use.

A centralized network processes and stores data on a specific server. They allow engineers to roll out updates and fixes to the host server.

Centralized networks often hire security firms to do penetration testing, which simulates a network attack.

With centralization, if a server suffers downtime the entire network grinds to a halt. Decentralization offers more security and helps mitigate attacks.

A decentralized network operates across many different nodes. Each node holds the entire database and verifies its version against each other to achieve consensus.

A decentralized network requires more effort to update, has a greater environmental impact through its energy consumption.

A distributed network operates like a decentralized system but may not require each node to host all of its data independently.

Increased transparency is a key feature with each node having equal access to the data. This also makes it difficult to change information in the network.

Smart contract auditing has risen from new types of attacks on decentralized and distributed networks. Whether it be Penetration Testing or Smart Contract Auditing choosing the right technology will ensure greater success.