Is your Privacy Important?

That’s a rhetoric question. Of course your privacy is important to you because otherwise you wouldn’t lock the door to your apartment when you leave for work, you wouldn’t have a PIN code on your phone and you probably wouldn’t have a password for your e-mail. However, we tend do be less careful with our online privacy compared to its real-life counterpart.

Think about how many times you’ve entered your home address, phone number and credit card number in an online store. I bet a lot of times! But on the other hand, if you would go to your corner retail shop and the vendor would ask for your home address, you would be intrigued and probably wouldn’t give away that sort of information. It’s safe to say that we are sharing our information online too easily, thus putting our privacy at risk.

One solution to this problem could be blockchain technology, which eliminates single point failure, hence increasing the security of our data. Unlike traditional methods, distributed ledger systems don’t rely on central databases, which can be hacked as we already saw it happen numerous times.

Blockchain VS Traditional Platforms

Recently, Facebook suffered one of the greatest data breaches in its history as the personal information of roughly 87 million users was collected without their full consent. Cambridge Analytica conducted a personality test among several hundred thousand Facebook users, using an app called thisisyourdigitallife. The users were paid for taking the test/survey and consented to have their data collected. However, the app also collected data from the participants’ friends, without their knowledge or consent.

This led to the huge number of 87 million users affected by the data breach, which was allegedly used to predict and influence people’s votes for the most recent U.S. Election campaign. The exact and correct number of people affected is not known but Cambridge Analytica insists it collected data from “only” 30 million Facebook users.

Another example of an enormous privacy breach is the hack of credit firm Equifax, which happened in late 2017. As a result, about 143 Million Americans had their social security numbers (and other data) stolen and to add insult to injury, three senior Equifax executives sold almost $1.8 Million worth of company shares after discovering the breach, but before making it public.

Real World Applications And Blockchain Solutions

Imagine if instead of entering our personal details everywhere around the internet (online stores, platforms, etc.), we could store it on a decentralized network, thus eliminating single point failure risks. Each time we need to create an account with, say an online store, the data would be accessed via the ledger and our identity confirmed without the need to type in our home address and other private data. That technology could be linked to payment systems (either crypto or Fiat) and ultimately, we would have more control over sharing our personal details.

While the scenario above is still pretty far away, there are other blockchain solutions that have applications in the real world. Take Ripple (XRP) for example: they are trying to solve the problem of cross border payments, by making them both faster and cheaper. Instead of your wire transfer taking up to 7 days and bouncing between several banks in the process, by using RippleNet, banks can complete a transaction in minutes.

When or if the Ripple solution will be mass implemented, non-blockchain users will be able to take advantage of blockchain tech without even knowing they do because the process will be similar to what it is now, just faster and cheaper. A grandpa can simply go to the bank and instruct them to send $500 to his niece and he doesn’t have to be a blockchain geek to do it. However, behind the curtains, his bank actually sends $500 worth of XRP to his niece’s bank, where it is converted back into US Dollars. All in minutes.

Another fine example of a blockchain solution for a real world problem is Infinitus (INF), which acts as a “vault” for your alphanumeric passwords, PINs, private keys, mnemonic phrases and crypto-wallet seeds. But unlike the Equifax example above, INF doesn’t store the data locally and instead scatters it across a decentralized network until a predetermined event (a “trigger”) takes place. Once the “trigger” is activated, the private data is gathered and sent back to a person you’ve designated.

How Does Infinitus Help?

All in all, INF is a true blockchain solution to a real life problem (we all lost a password or two over time), which is safer than single point storage (Equifax and other companies store data on servers but INF uses Decentralized Ledger Technology, so there’s no server to hack) and is easy to use. Actually, the INF mobile app is so user friendly that even the grandpa we talked about earlier can use it in 3 minutes.

The strength of cryptography means your privacy is protected but this could generate another problem: the very thing that makes it appealing — privacy and security — could become a huge risk because access to your crypto assets cannot be recovered unless you have the private data that unlocks your crypto wallet.

This means that you have two options: never lose your private keys and recovery seeds or use a tool like Infinitus that stores them on a decentralized network and returns them to you if your copy is lost. Two levels of security are always better than one so make sure you also use a traditional approach like writing the password/key/phrase on a piece of paper or another solution of your choice.

Enhanced Privacy In A Fool Proof Form

In order for blockchain technology to reach mainstream status, we need to make it accessible to the mass population: the grandpa who wants to send money to his niece, the guy who is not that much into computers and the average Joe who doesn’t really understand what a satoshi is.

And we also need to make sure that everybody has access to their crypto-assets because there’s nothing more deterring than getting into crypto and then losing it all due to a mistake. That’s why we need a simple, easy to use and reliable tool to protect our blockchain possessions and ultimately, our privacy. And that is exactly what Infinitus is: a tool that keeps your private data safe without making you jump through intricate blockchain hoops or technology puzzles. A must have dApp for every crypto user, no matter the tech-skill level.