A Web3 executive believes that the data breach that multinational telecommunications company AT&T may have been avoided if they stored their data within the blockchain.
On July 12, the telecom company said in a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it had learned from an investigation that the company suffered a breach that might endanger their customers’ data.
According to the filing, the attackers accessed and copied their call logs stored in a third-party cloud provider. The data contained records of calls, texts and phone numbers.
While the content of the communications was not compromised, the company believes that there are ways to find names associated with phone numbers and that hackers could use tools to determine the identity of their customers.
AT&T breach highlights problems with Web2 services
Tim Kravchunovsky, the founder and CEO of the decentralized telecommunications network Chirp, believes that the event highlights the vulnerabilities faced by the networks that people rely on the most.
The executive argued that as this was the second breach report, the event seems to be “becoming the rule, rather than the exception.” Furthermore, the Web3 professional pointed out the time it took to report the breach. Kravchunovsky said:
“It’s also concerning that it takes more than two years to report these breaches, so there is no guarantee something similar isn’t happening right now.”
Kravchunovsky said this could have placed millions of customers at risk by allowing hackers to identify their homes, workplaces and connections. This could allow fraudsters to target them more effectively.
Because of these, the executive argued that the current technological solutions are not working and that new ones are necessary.
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Odds of breach “much slimmer” if AT&T data was in the blockchain
Kravchunovsky also argued that blockchain technology and AI made it possible to have more secure databases. “Storing the data on an immutable ledger and tracking threats in real-time allows for a rapid response before a breach occurs,” he added.
Kravchunovsky also explained that decentralized solutions, like physical infrastructure networks (DePIN), routinely protect large data streams from cyber threats.
While Web3 may not guarantee that a breach wouldn’t happen, the executive believes that the odds will be slimmer. He explained:
“Of course, there’s never a guarantee that a breach like the one reported by AT&T couldn’t happen if the data were stored on the blockchain, but the odds are much slimmer. Plus, blockchain is transparent, so it’s impossible to hide such breaches for two years.”
The Web3 professional also believes that with the technology available today, such breaches are “inexcusable.”
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