When it comes to security, blockchain is a leader in terms of its ability to protect its data, take power and risk from central locations, and mitigate potential attacks. Because of P2P, data transfer is safely checked, and the hashes ensure that data isn’t modified. This is used every time you send money through bitcoin wallets to transfer the money. Bitcoin for example has proven the model for years with its safe, decentralized, transfer methods. It’s clear that blockchain has the ability to lay the foundation for a new era of safe commerce, but where else can it go? Identity theft is an area where centralized locations can hurt a lot. If one location is compromised, millions of records including client data being compromised.
According to the Washington Post, in 2014, Sony was hacked and employee information was sent out causing all sorts of damage. Personal conversations, salaries, and executive info were released. This is clearly theft of information. Another incident of company hacking that hurt identity theft was in 2019. Capital One was hacked and 100 million records were stolen, according to CMBC. Over the last decade, many companies have been hacked and because they store vast amounts of data; hundreds of millions of records were stolen. The list will go on and on if these company databases are not decentralized.
Identity theft is easiest through centralized locations that store lots of data. If the data is decentralized through blockchain, access to large amounts of data disappears. Blockchain acts as a network for data transfer for bitcoin, so it should effectively work as a secure data hub. When data is accessed, transfers will be made, and forced access would be denied by P2P The whole system would have to agree on storage and retrieval. Using a complex system to access information could effectively prevent unwarranted access to data. It’s unlikely that all cyber-attacks will ever end, so the best that can be done is mitigation.
Lots of personal information is kept on business and government systems, and by spreading out the potential targets, the chance that anyone is hit is lessened. Even if part of the system is hit, most of the data won’t be compromised if blockchain is used. If the order of blocks for transfers is done by proxy, the hacked hash order won’t match the initial order by which the blocks were made. The hashes won’t match. If a hash is recalculated with access, it could work. This is another potential layer for blockchain to step into with identity protection. Because blockchain is so simple and moldable, it has the capability to secure any system. Blockchain is like culling a forest to prevent forest fires. Because the trees aren’t dense in a central location, the fire can’t spread easily. When it comes to identity theft, the problem is mitigated when someone is hit and only a small fire lights. Because thieves cannot be in the same location as us, using proxy as identity in a blockchain adds an extra layer of security.
P2P transfer allows for a location to be certified without knowing exactly where a computer is, which is critical for solving this problem. If I knew where you were, I could copy your location. The check for location is the order of blocks in proximity to you (including you). According to the III, Identity theft is a global problem, affecting roughly 15 million people a year. If central locations for information are taken apart, then there will be less information to steal. Because names have credibility attached to them, they are something to covet.
Blockchain is a global giant in the commerce world, but information is a sort of commerce as well. Centralized information is dangerous because it acts as a target for theft. Blockchain solved this with P2p and spreads the information out with checks. Another reason identity theft can be solved by blockchain is through the ability to use blocks chained by proxy. This potential makes identity theft unable to be done from afar.
Blockchain is an effective method for safe information transfer and storage, by mitigating the amount of data that can be attacked. In the future, blockchain has the ability to become a new system for the modern world of information storage and transfer. If you want to learn more about it, check blockchain consulting companies to do that. For now, the cloud is a large datacenter owned by google or amazon, but eventually, it could be people’s data protecting each other through blockchain. Data is the most valuable thing in the modern world and figuring out how to protect it is essential.
