Hub Weekly Digest: PayPal, Voting Data, Blockchain Nodes and Enterprise Cybersecurity
Hub Security’s weekly digest covers top stories happening around the world related to fintech, infrastructure, cloud, and digital asset security.
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Banks Could Become Blockchain Nodes, Says US Regulator
The US Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Brian Brooks, struck a chord with attendees at this year’s DC FinTech week, suggesting that banks were relics of a “pre-technology era” and will face substantial disruption by blockchain.
Brooks, formerly chief legal officer at crypto exchange Coinbase, suggested that the future would see banks “directly connected to blockchains, where they will see that as a payment network and they will become nodes on that network.” Banks’ “legacy role” as an aggregator of dollars could be disinter-mediated, said Brooks, who added that centralization was no longer required for efficiency or to provide services such as deposits or loans. (Source)
Cybersecurity Company Finds Hacker Selling Info on 186 Million U.S. Voters
A cybersecurity company says it has found a hacker selling personally identifying information of more than 200 million Americans, including the voter registration data of 186 million.
Much of the data identified by Trustwave, a global cybersecurity company, is publicly available, and almost all of it is the kind that is regularly bought and sold by legitimate businesses. But the fact that so many names, email addresses, phone numbers and voter registration records were found for sale in bulk on the so-called dark web underscores how easily criminals and foreign adversaries can deploy it as the FBI said has been done recently. (Source)
PayPal to Let Consumers Buy and Sell Cryptocurrencies in the US
PayPal has partnered with cryptocurrency company Paxos to launch a new service. PayPal users in the U.S. will soon be able to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies. More countries are coming soon.
PayPal plans to support Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin at first. You’ll be able to connect to your PayPal account to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. Behind the scenes, Paxos takes care of trading and custody.
In early 2021, PayPal wants to let you use your crypto assets as a funding source for your PayPal purchases. This could be a good way to use cryptocurrencies for everyday purchases without having to convert cryptocurrencies on an exchange first. (Source)
83% Of Enterprises Transformed Their Cybersecurity In 2020
IT leaders are quickly using the lessons learned from the pandemic as a crucible to strengthen cloud transformation and IT modernization strategies. One of every three IT leaders interviewed, 34%, say their budgets have increased during the pandemic. In large-scale enterprises with over 500 employees, 59% of IT leaders have seen their budgets increase.
All organizations are also keeping their IT staff in place. 63% saw little to no impact on their teams, indicating that the majority of organizations will have both the budget and resources to maintain or grow their cybersecurity programs. 25% of IT leaders indicated that their company plans to keep their entire workforce 100% remote. (Source)
