We’re Being Hacked, and I couldn’t be Happier!

As I write this piece, our systems are under attack from multiple hackers. 6,629 brute force attempts in the last hour to be precise. That’s over 6 million since May and counting. SO COOL!

I’m so excited, that we even removed our SSL certificate (so communications on the system are exposed) and publicly shared our entire system architecture and source code.

We’ve even imparted some constructive feedback with our attackers, to improve their productivity.

Did we alert the authorities? $#%! no! We'd actually like to thank them personally. Unfortunately, they didn’t leave any contact details.

Although Tide is a not-for-profit, we’re in the “business” of Personal Data. We believe personal data is everyone’s business (oooh, need to trademark that). We all share sensitive information with the businesses and organizations we interact with daily (doctors, online retailers, employers, social media sites 😲) - entrusting them to handle it with care.

However, with a new privacy or data breach a day, resulting in our private details sold on the dark web, and a flawed digital marketing ecosystem that stalks, exploits and coerces us into enabling others to monetize our data and behavior… Things are not working out too well, other than for a few tech giants.

In the interest of full transparency (because that’s what we’re preaching), we invited the hackers, and offered a Bitcoin for the taking if our system is successfully breached. We developed the Tide Protocol, open source (i.e. free to adopt) infrastructure and a global standard to power a new personal data ecosystem. It helps organizations maintain privacy compliance, mitigate risks posed from data breaches and improve their trust with consumers to do better business. Most importantly, it puts consumers in control of their data, who has access and why, and if they agree to trade it, share in its monetization.

These hackers are part of our growing community. A community of developers, privacy advocates, global chairman, marketers, professionals, forward thinking politicians, cyber security professors, chief economists, entrepreneurs – anyone that’s interested in redefining the data relationship between individuals and organizations into one that’s sustainable and mutually beneficial – ‘Make Privacy Profitable’ for everyone (definitely going to trademark that one).

With heightened consumer awareness, strict new privacy legislation like the GDPR and new technologies that operate on full transparency and accountability, the incentive and the means are here to instigate meaningful change.

What can you do?

Techies - Give the Tide Protocol a run for its money. There's a Bitcoin up for grabs. Connect with us to help critique, improve and build upon it. Find us on GitHub. Or dive straight in.

Professionals – Invite Tide into your workplace! Get on the front foot and work with us on proof of concepts to show your commitment to privacy and benefit from its warm embrace.

Investors – We’ve enjoyed incredible support from generous corporates and individuals. We’re inviting those with a strategic interest in a thriving, privacy centric personal data economy to not only bask in the glory of changing the world, but to benefit from it.

Keyboard warriors – Join our social community on Twitter / Reddit / LinkedIn. Share our material if it resonates. Show businesses that there’s support for those who embrace privacy.

Voyeurs – To demonstrate our commitment and confidence in our technology, once this post receives 10k likes or shares, we’ve pledged to add nude photos of each founder alongside the hidden Bitcoin - though to be fair, that may not be much of an incentive.