IoT needs data. Big data and the IoT are two sides of the same coin. The IoT collects data from myriad sensors; that data is classified, organized, and used to make automated decisions; and the IoT, in turn, acts on it.
IoT devices provide significant benefits to individual consumers across different aspects of their lives. Data and especially personal data (capable of identifying the individual), underpins and delivers most of these benefits. Consequently, the interaction of IoT devices with individuals and their almost unacknowledged but pervasive presence in the daily life and privacy of an individual, would pose ongoing and real-time privacy challenges as well as risks.
IoT transaction comprise of device manufacturers, data platforms, data aggregators or brokers, application developers, social platforms, etc. Their intervention involves extensive access, use and processing of data, resulting in the device operating in an unobtrusive and seamless manner for the user. Another category of stakeholders are the users. In data protection legal frameworks, such stakeholders possess different designations, based on their attributes. There is the ‘data subject’ (user of the IOT device) who provides the data for availing services and the ‘data controller’ (IOT device manufacturers/service providers) who controls the data and uses it for providing services/functions rendered through the IOT device. Further, the data may travel through multiple entities present between the data subject and the data controller, who process the data on behalf of the data controller (data processors).
But with all of these benefits comes risk, as the increase in connected devices gives hackers and cyber criminals more entry points.
Late last year, a group of hackers took down a power grid in a region of western Ukraine to cause the first blackout from a cyber attack. And this is likely just the beginning, as these hackers are looking for more ways to strike critical infrastructure, such as power grids, hydroelectric dams, chemical plants, and more.
IoT Privacy Issues
The sheer amount of data that IoT devices can generate is staggering. A Federal Trade Commission report entitled “Internet of Things: Privacy & Security in a Connected World” found that fewer than 10,000 households can generate 150 million discrete data points every day. This creates more entry points for hackers and leaves sensitive information vulnerable.
A report found that companies could use collected data that consumers willingly offer to make employment decisions. For example, an insurance company might gather information from you about your driving habits through a connected car when calculating your insurance rate. The same could occur for health or life insurance thanks to fitness trackers.
Manufacturers or hackers could actually use a connected device to virtually invade a person’s home. German researchers accomplished this by intercepting unencrypted data from a smart meter device to determine what television show someone was watching at that moment.
Each of these problems could put a dent in consumers desire to purchase connected products, which would prevent the IoT from fulfilling its true potential.
Hdac is an IoT contract platform based on the blockchain, which not only exchanges but also can restrict the usage according to the purpose as it is ‘Smart Coin’ which controls the connected devices.
Privacy is one of the biggest challenges facing IoT, so Hdac configures unique Hybrid Blockchain Networks for general and special purpose users. Hdac platform acts to support micro-transactions with state-of-the-art hardware wallets immune to viruses.
By fusing Blockchain with the IoT, Hdac maintains core principles while users remain satisfied their connectivity, from user to device, is nestled among the safest of environments.
From private to public and back again, Hdac Hybrid Blockchain is configured as a hidden network with safe tunnelling between a user and device to combat hacks, privacy invasions and external attacks.