How blockchain could have prevented the biggest Twitter hack in history?
Just a few hours ago the Internet went crazy. Dozens of the most famous celebrities and companies started tweeting about a Bitcoin scam. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Barack Obama, Apple, Uber, and many more were affected by the biggest Twitter hack in history.
You might be thinking “Is this real? How is this even possible”? One wrong tweet and everything could have gone really bad…
But what really happened? It’s more than clear that a security vulnerability opened a huge door for hackers that resulted in getting access to the twitter accounts to some of the most influential people in 2020.
Now what?
It already happened and we can’t do anything about it. Now the most important question to ask is how we can secure our business from meeting the same fate. How can we prevent it? If this happened to Twitter, a big company investing millions in security to prevent such hacks, what about all the smaller companies?
What blockchain has to do with the Twitter hack?
Let me start first by saying that everything we use today (mobile apps, websites, etc) is connected one way or another to a specific technology and the Internet. What this means is we all SHOULD TRUST that technology and the companies that are using it for their application to be secure, to keep our data safe, and to prevent security vulnerabilities (like the Twitter hack).
Do you trust Twitter keeping your account safe? Me neither!
The thing is that lately, we are starting to see more and more stuff like this happening. Why? Because all companies are using the same, old, and the most widespread model for building software applications. The apps that use it run on central servers, they are no resistant to censorship and downtime, the authentication protocols are broken… everything makes these companies and their apps an easy target for hackers.
Why blockchain technology is so different from what all companies are using today? Well, blockchain is completely changing how we understand and use today’s technologies. It introduces new paradigms and concepts like decentralization. It enables companies to build trustless, secure, and decentralized solutions. The blockchain apps aka decentralized applications don’t run on central servers, use completely different authentication functionality that provides higher security, and are resistant to censorship (unlike the Trump-Twitter censorship drama)
How blockchain could have prevented the biggest Twitter hack in history?
When you understand how the old model for building software applications works you can easily spot the potential security vulnerabilities. And when people say this can happen only in theory and it’s VERY UNLIKELY to happen in the real world — don’t trust them.
The Twitter hack is just another example. And don’t fool yourself that these attacks will stop. It will not. In fact, it will get even worse until we start doing things the right way and innovate our businesses to meet the new standards that are emerging.
Blockchain could have prevented the biggest Twitter hack in history simply by removing the need of central servers and providing a more secure authentication functionality that enable ONLY THE OWNER of the twitter account to have the full power and access to it.
We shouldn’t demand more trust in new technology. We should completely remove the trust out of the equation.
If you want to learn more about blockchain and how it can evolve your business ping me on Twitter or Linked-In
