Can bitcoin-style decentralisation help prevent data breaches?

A Sydney-based start-up says the spate of recent data breaches headlined by Optus and Medibank has reinforced the urgency to rethink cybersecurity and remove the vulnerabilities of human fallibility.

Tide Foundation, a cybersecurity technology firm that has been collaborating with several corporations, academic institutions and government departments, including the Department of Defence, says almost every system still has a “human with root access”.

“Whether it’s as a result of poor quality assurance, a coding error, a misconfigured server or an inside job, there shouldn’t be a scenario where 10 million records can be accessible en masse,” co-founder of Tide Michael Loewy told The Australian Financial Review.

“It comes down to trusting a human being – who by our nature are fallible. We can only remember simple passwords, we make mistakes, we lose things, we cut corners, we have a propensity to become disgruntled. How do we ensure that these actions can’t result in catastrophic damage?”

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