Think that Google and Facebook are the only ones selling your data to the highest bidder? Think again.

These titan social media conglomerates aren’t the only entities that are monetizing people’s information. There’s a huge black market in which certain medical records are being sold at around $408 on average. These medical records hold extremely valuable information such as social security numbers, credit card numbers, addresses, full names, and much more.

The security infrastructure at hospitals and medical centers are in shambles. In fact, according to a recent article on Propublica, “Hundreds of computer servers worldwide that store patient X-rays and MRIs are so insecure that anyone with a web browser or a few lines of computer code can view patient records”. These offices and centers, just in the U.S. alone, have computers left without password protection or any other security precautions.

A recent report uncovered by Greenbone Networks highlighted almost 25 million records being exposed in 52 different countries. One quote from the article addresses an interesting point in the medical/hospital space. “Just because something can be connected to the internet, it doesn’t necessarily mean it should be connected to the internet – especially where there is personal sensitive information involved – and even more so when there is apparently little to no investment in security controls to validate that the data is secured properly,”said Javvad Malik, Security Awareness Advocate at KnowBe4.” This is a very savvy point made by Mr. Malik. Just because something can be connected to the internet, it doesn’t mean it should be connected to the internet.

Enter Elastos. The main use case for Elastos in the medical field is the revolutionary Runtime infrastructure. Most of Runtime features are highlighted in this very detailed Spotlight Series piece.

Runtime, or the Elastos Trinity Browser, provides a secure sandboxed environment in which all DApps in the ecosystem can run on top of. In other words, this space is not connected to the internet and prevents any sort of malware, DDoS, or man in the middle attacks. Back to the point of Mr. Malik, just because you can connect to the internet, doesn’t mean you should connect to the World Wide Web. If you’re a doctor, physician, or surgeon, you can access medical records in a complete network isolation without having to worry about data be infiltrated. It’s all in a secure place in which nothing can get in and nothing can get out.

How will all this data and information be properly organized you may ask yourself? Elastos has this aspect covered as well. According to the Spotlight Series, “All the user data and app data on Elastos Browser will be tied to a user’s DID and the data itself will be stored on a decentralized storage system or on the user’s Dropbox or personal cloud drive…For Trinity Browser, DIDs are used to conserve user’s data when they switch between devices without compromising the integrity of their data via decentralized storage”. DID couple with the Elastos decentralized storage (Hive) provides users with an ideal solution in securely logging into their medical records, while being in a protected and isolated environment.

Is this enough security to protect innocent medical patients all across the globe? Elastos didn’t think this was enough, so the team decided to take it one step further. Part of Elastos’ consensus mechanism (AuxPOW and DPoS or Merge Mining) is currently secured by over 40% of Bitcoin’s hashpower, which totals to 40.90 EH/s. To put this in context, Bitcoin produces more electricity than countries such as Switzerland, Israel, Greece and Ireland. Not only would a hacker have to penetrate the very sophisticated and secured Runtime infrastructure, but they would also have to generate enough hashpower to break through 40+% of the most powerful blockchains in the world: Bitcoin.

In 2019 alone, local governments across the U.S.A. have been hacked and used for ransom in order to receive Bitcoin in return. Imagine a hacker getting a hold of a major Medical center or hospital and freezing all their records. Doctors wouldn’t be able to access the correct information in order to treat their patients. Medication for all sorts of ailments wouldn’t be able to be properly prescribed. The hackers have all the leverage in this scary hypothetical.

If the hospital or medical center doesn’t pay a certain random, some patients lives could literally be at stake.

The world needs Elastos in order to create a smart firewall to prevent any bad actors from accessing or penetrating vital and valuable medical data. The medical field is in desperate need of a makeover in data security, and Elastos is ready to provide all the tools necessary to make the Medical field safe again.