Next-generation innovation is coming with DNA-based identities
Is it any wonder that people have lost trust in today’s social media platforms and online services? Earlier this year Facebook deleted an eye-watering 583 million fake accounts, more than a quarter of its 2.2 billion monthly active users. Twitter, Instagram and others have the same problem with millions of false accounts. False identities are the perfect cover for fraudsters so it’s hardly surprising that cyber crooks have taken to social media with glee. The can, and do, run rampant through the online world culling personal data, hijacking profiles, stealing identities and giving a new meaning to the word ‘fraud’.
But the problem of fake identities isn’t restricted to social media. If only. Last year Experian was hit by a monster hack, personal data belonging to 147 million American citizens was scooped out of its databases. And let’s not mention Yahoo which was slammed by the mother of all hacks when it admitted that everyone of its three billion accounts was hit by a 2013 data heist. This information is traded on the dark web with scammers using it to impersonate people, apply for loans and mortgages, lift money out of bank accounts, make any number of fraudulent purchases and generally cause chaos and mayhem. And fraudsters rarely get caught because law enforcement simply can’t keep up..
One identity theft every two seconds
To get a sense of the scale of this problem consider research from Javelin Strategy which discovered the number of victims was 16.7 million in 2017 at a cost of $16 billion. That’s one every two seconds. The Insurance Information Institute said 30 percent of U.S. consumers were notified of a data breach in 2017, an increase of 12 percent compared to 2016. That’s almost one third of all U.S. adults.
Financial loss to one side the effect on victims can be devastating. Equifax research revealed that victims are hit by financial stress and some experience similar emotional effects as someone clubbed over the head. This can range form stomach churning anxiety to ‘emotional volatility’, that is, lashing out for no apparent reason. The problem is that we never truly know whether the person we’re dealing with online is genuine. Someone could have intercepted communications, set up a fake account, sucker punched someone with a phishing mail or pretending to be bona fide employee of a bank when in fact they are scammer.
Staggering losses and villainous characters
In a 2017 Official Annual Cybercrime Report, Cybersecurity Ventures predicted that cybercrime will cost the world $6 trillion annually by 2021. Gloomily it said this is one of the biggest threats societies face. When all is said and done this mega-theft largely comes down to some form of identity impersonation.
But today it’s not just about villainous characters’ making off with loot it’s also about cultural, ethical and moral issues that threatens to undermine the social fabric. But all is not lost. If we all have a unique identity that can’t be faked, is publically known and can’t be tampered with, it will reduce identity theft overnight. At the ground level the problem is being successfully tackled by some companies. Take Apple as an example. Its use of biometric identifiers has more than advanced the cause of human identifiers. Biometric markers such as fingerprints, the iris of an eye and even the features of a face can’t be faked. Apple doesn’t rely on an email address, a phone number or any other traditional form of identity, it uses that which can’t be imitated.
Time for change
And if we think of next generation social networks why not use DNA? Each individuals DNA is unique and modern technology has reached the point where DNA markers can be identified within ten minutes. It takes longer to assess cholesterol levels from a blood test. You may think this is a step too far, too soon. But societies are by and large committed to advancement and development of the good. Given the high economic price of faked identities it’s almost inevitable that DNA-based IDs will at some point be introduced.
This is not far-fetched. There are already countries where DNA databases of citizens are being built. Qatar is developing DNA citizen databases to find genetic causes of diseases and create personalised medical treatments. Estonia is doing the same. The rationale is not sinister; it’s benevolent and forward-looking. In a sense a DNA identifier is no different than a social security number which identifies an individual, their address, date of birth and so on. To grasp the problem with this look no further than the Experian hack which spilled millions of ID social security numbers into the hands of malicious hackers.
Can’t be faked
In contrast DNA identifiers provide ID transparency and can’t be faked. And it’s a great way to beat off the robots too. Spam robots can fill out forms for creating new accounts including names, email addresses, phone numbers and whatever else is required. Social media in particular has been plagued by the scourge of false accounts created by botnets leading to millions of false accounts. A botnet of three million Twitter accounts remained undetected for years.
At humans.net we are developing a next-generation social network. We’ve implemented the most modern technologies and alongside a decentralised network we are working to develop DNA identification so users can’t be scammed by fake identities. It’s a complex process and probably one of the most advanced developments in the world.
Smart money
The reason for DNA identification is simple. Unlike today’s social media platforms humans.net enables users to make money from their data. Today’s platforms hoover up user data to make money, lots of it, billions of dollars. The user gets nothing, not even a paltry cent. However, humans.net gives users the choice of whether they want their data to be used by an advertiser and if so they get 25 percent of the revenue. This is revolutionary compared to today’s social networks but it’s a logical next-step in the evolution of social networks.
Just as Apple uses biometric markers and people unhesitatingly embrace it, humans.net users will welcome DNA-based IDs. They have a clear investment in doing so because they can monetize their personal data, make substantial financial gains and can’t be scammed by fraudsters. Everyone on the platform who engages in financial transactions will use this irrevocable ID authentication.
A social network with DNA ID may seem like a radical step but society grows and evolves because of innovation. Where would be without the evolution of the motor car, radio or telephone? At humans.net we’re working on DNA-based ID because it’s a logical, evolutionary, next step. It simply makes sense.
