Running email systems on Bitcoin’s blockchain technology is becoming increasingly imperative, as current email services are cumbersome and no longer secure. Indeed, email service providers are using obsolete technology that has become too vulnerable to ever-more sophisticated hackers.
Also read: Kiss & Tell: Adult FriendFinder Hack Exposes 412 Million Accounts
Replace Outdated Email Systems With Blockchain-Based Email
After suffering the biggest data breach in history, Yahoo is now urging its users to change their passwords. However, changing passwords is an almost futile exercise. Actually, experts warn that changing passwords frequently might be counterproductive.
To improve email systems while protecting user account data requires a radical change of technology.
Fortunately, a few startups are already doing that. They are transforming email systems using Fourth Industrial Revolution technology.
For example, John McAfee Swiftmail is a mail system that runs on Bitcoin’s blockchain technology. 256 bit, end-to-end encryption protects Swiftmail data and renders data interception useless, claims the company.
“John McAfee Swiftmail is a decentralized, peer-to-peer, proof-of-work, encrypted mail system that uses bitcoin technology to replace email. A Swiftmail wallet address looks like this: ab99b776de244fe0f70f229921517829,” explains its website.
Cryptamail is another decentralized email system that runs on blockchain technology. Because the blockchain stores the messages, “there is no central point that stores your messages, so there is nowhere to steal or even submit a request for your private data,” affirms its website.
Most Notorious Data Breach Ever
Current email systems are no longer secure. Yahoo recently revealed that it had suffered the world’s biggest-ever hack, compromising more than one billion user accounts. Hackers stole Yahoo users’ crucial personal data. Most disturbingly, the stolen information could have included unencrypted or encrypted security questions and their respective answers.
Yahoo reported that the hack of one billion user accounts occurred in August 2013. However, Yahoo announced it only on December 14, 2016. Forensic experts are still investigating the mega data breach. “We have not been able to identify the intrusion associated with this theft. We believe this incident is likely distinct from the incident we disclosed on September 22, 2016,” said Bob Lord, CISO Yahoo.
“Based on the ongoing investigation, we believe an unauthorized third party accessed our proprietary code to learn how to forge cookies.”
Previously, in September, Yahoo disclosed another incident in which information pertaining to 500 million user accounts was stolen in 2014.
Yahoo links these two major criminal incidents to “the same state-sponsored actor.”
State-Sponsored Hackers and Geopolitical Implications
News on data breaches is recurring almost daily, affecting email service providers, as well as businesses, government agencies, and political organizations. The impacts of these incidents are potentially far-reaching.
Take, for example, the recent hacking of the Democratic National Committee. Allegedly, this hacking adversely affected the outcome of the 2016 U.S. Presidential elections. Many contend that state-sponsored actors performed the hacking.
In effect, according to NBC News, “U.S. intelligence officials now believe with ‘a high level of confidence’ that Russian President Vladimir Putin became personally involved in the covert Russian campaign to interfere in the U.S. presidential election, senior U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News.”
Cyberattacks have been the norm for a long time. Now, however, the frequency, magnitude, and implications of email hackings and other malicious acts are increasing dramatically. As a result, it is now urgent to innovate and move toward more secure email technologies, such as those that integrate the security that the Bitcoin’s blockchain technology provides.
What do you think about running email systems on Bitcoin’s blockchain technology? Let us know in the comments below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, John McAfee Swiftmail, and Cryptamail.
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