"Yes, you can drive your car with your feet, but why would you want to." #Blockchain

I was speaking with a VC the other day about Blockchain and he asked me, " what can it do for me that other technology aren't already doing?"  I asked him to elaborate"  He proceeded to mention we already have security, communication, interoperability (to some extent).  I retorted, yes, but they are failing, e.g., many breaches and most EHR are not connected.

Where I see a difference in Blockchain; it's is a simple, transparent and secure framework to solve a difficult problem(s).

Blockchain wouldn't store PHI, however it stores the location of the data, the links to the other associated record on that chain, and the hashcode which is used to verify the integrity and provenance of the data. The blocks are verified, non-reputable and the security is provided by Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).

The real reason to use Blockchain is the simplicity and transparency and yes, you can do a lot of the same things with existing models. Same thing that they said about horses when the auto showed up.

Distributive Ledger AKA Blockchain have been around for quite a while, Bitcoin just brought the technology front and center.  Application like Bitcoin may fail however the infrastructure that supports the application will stay around.

I like the old saying that my chief architect used to say to me years ago, "Yes, you can drive your car with your feet, but why would you want to".

If you are interested in reading about another use of Blockchain in healthcare check our  Peter B. Nichol and my submission to the ONC Blockchain Challenge, Birth of the CryptoCitizen for Healthcare in CIO.

The passwords have met their match

Yesterday, it was announced that a Russian Crime syndicate has stolen 1.2 billion identities.  As of the next day it is was still not known where or who’s IDs were stolen.  The media is suggesting that we change all usernames and passwords.  I like many, have at least one hundred usernames and password and this would be no small feat to change them and most likely won't.  Many times it is difficult or impossible to change usernames.

One of the primary issues leading to all of these cyber attacks is that millions of places that passwords are stored.  Each website keeps your username and password on their systems.  There are systems (OAuth) that allow sites like Google and Facebook to share credentials with other sites to allow access to their systems without setting up new credentials, however that means you have to trust sites like Facebook to store your credentials.  Since these companies make their money from selling information via advertising, well you get it.

We must ask why these passwords were not encrypted? It was poor design and oversight.  Data at rest is always vulnerable; it is the “edge” that gets hacked, i.e., data can be sent over a secure links, such as SSL but when it is moved or temporarily stored during processing it vulnerable and if the data is not encrypted when stored, it remains vulnerable to thief.  Credit Card data before PCI compliance rules had the same issues.  Compliance, however isn’t a law such as HIPAA, but maybe it is time for legislation for all password data.

There needs to be a better system for identification and authorization.  Usernames and passwords have met their match, the well funded, sophisticated hacker, the new cyber criminal.

Jeff Brandt

www.deKaG.com

Mobile changes everything

Mobile presents one of the largest paradigm shift of all time. I recently read a article that ranked the iPhone the eighth top invention of all time. The wheel was first. But mobile is not about communication it is about connectivity. A fully connected society, a connected world. We must rethink our current strategies on everything. From banking to healthcare to communication, mobile changes it all. Advertising industry is going to change significantly. We are moving from print, TV, radio and computers to always "on" (connected and on our person) personal devices. Each time a person looks at the screen of the phone/device they will receive impressions, not the old CPC (Cost Per Click) type, but in many different forms, audio, visual, static and participating impressions. The number if hits (old term) will become more of experiences, (Mx) and will be exponential.

As many of you know I am very interested in HealthCare and it's future in the world. Mobile will have a huge impact on healthcare, soon we will have implanted monitoring devices that will feed data to a site such as Microsoft HealthVault, Decision Support system will analyze the data in realtime and alert the patient/consumer and Provider of changes in your body. But the biggest change that mobile will providein health is the ability for the consumer to become realtime envolved with their own health. Our phones will become the Remote control of our Healthcare and the screens will have dashboards so that we can monitor ourselves in realtime. The next subject that I plan to discuss is changing our views of mobile and opening thoughts up to the possibilities of engagement.

Jeff