Blockchain’s Decentralization Can Redefine Data Privacy

Individuals are becoming more aware of the threats of data breaches and the use of their personal data for commercial purposes. The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) seeks to make a harmonized knowledge protection law across the European Union and aims to give back the management of one’s personal knowledge. With GDPR, even organizations without a physical market presence in the EU may still be required to comply with the GDPR if the organization offers paid or unpaid goods or services to individuals located in the EU or if the organization is monitoring the behavior of individuals within the EU.
In addition, if an organization works with suppliers or partners that operate in the EU, they will expect the organization to comply with GDPR in order to limit their own risk. Simply put, GDPR compliance will soon be considered a requirement to conduct business with EU data subjects.
Blockchain fosters a new generation of transactional applications that help establish accountability and transparency. It also provides an unmatched level of accountability for how data privacy is managed based on its tamper-resistant data store and its consensus mechanism used to modify the data.
Basically, blockchain data is protected by design. Blockchain continues to be in its infancy however has notable networks already providing worth like food safety and international trade.
The combination of sequential hashing and cryptography along with its decentralized structure makes it very challenging for any party to tamper with it in contrast to a standard database.

Confidentiality

Ensuring only interested and authorized parties’ access the correct and appropriate data privacy to them is a common concern for organizations considering using a blockchain today. Protecting blockchain network access is fundamental in securing data access. If an attacker is able to gain access to the blockchain network, they are more likely to gain access to the data, hence authentication and authorization controls need to be implemented, as is the case with other technologies.

Full encryption of blockchain data ensures data won’t be accessible by unauthorized parties whereas this data is in transit.
In public blockchain, there is no necessity to control network access as the chain’s protocols allow anyone to access and participate in the network, providing they firstly download the software. In distinction, private blockchains require that appropriate security controls are in place to protect network access.

Immutability

Blockchain technology will be considered as a secure technology, from the point of view that it enables users to trust that the transactions stored on the tamper-proof ledger are valid. The combination of sequential hashing and cryptography along with its decentralized structure makes it very challenging for any party to tamper with it in contrast to a standard database.
This provides organizations using the technology with assurance about the integrity and truthfulness of the data.
Blockchain brings a new paradigm to software development and, as such, secure development standards and practices (such as implementing secure coding and security testing) need to be implemented (and updated) to account for a smart contract life cycle (creation, testing, deployment, and management).

The combination of the peer to peer nature and the number of nodes within the network, operating in a distributed and 24/7 manner, make the Blockchain platform operationally resilient. Given that both public and private blockchain consists of multiple nodes, organizations can make a node under attack redundant and continue to operate as business as usual. So, even if a major part of the blockchain network is under attack, it will continue to operate due to the distributed nature of the technology.
Blockchain has refuelled a generation of ideas that have the potential to shift the management from centralization to decentralization, once more permitting people the flexibility to require back privacy of their data.

Srishti Manak

Srishti is the Associate Business Manager at Parangat Technologies. She is passionate about disruptive technologies, personal development and anything technical that makes life easier and interesting. She loves finding new ideas to spread valuable content on and around App Development and Marketing. While she is not exploring tech trends, you can find her devouring movies from across the globe.