Is storing sensitive data on blockchain a wise idea?

[Cyber_Alien]

One major issue with storing sensitive data on the blockchain is that once it is there, the data is permanently there and cannot be changed. What if quantum computers eventually grow so potent that they can defeat every form of encryption we now use? On the blockchain, all of your users' private information will be accessible to everyone. To store sensitive data like medical records using blockchain technology. Sensitive and private information found in medical records could be used against people if it were made public. in my opinion, would not be an acceptable use case.

[knowngunman]

First of all, in my opinion once you use any forms of technology to store data, it's not longer a private. In essence what I'm trying to say is that whatever you consider sensitive and private should not be stored on blockchain unless you are ready for the repercussions which will eventually affect your mental health.

[Plaguedeath]

You want your identity are published everywhere and anyone can use your identity too? it's really a stupid idea. What if a criminal use your data? if the problem is really big, FBI or police will trying to find you and you will get a lot problem after that.

Quantum computer still not able to break the encryption since it need a bunch of trial and error that need very very long time to complete it. Don't think quantum computer will break every digital security.

[cryptoaddictchie]

Sensitive and private information found in medical records could be used against people if it were made public. in my opinion, would not be an acceptable use case.

It could be used but I doubt it can be access easily by anyone publicly. Who would accept this if you are for example one of the patient with leak record. Use case of  blockchain isnt about record but the ability to show an efficient way to transfer and received data in a much safer way and transparent one. There are malicious way to do this but it will depend on the project that will utilize best this kind of utility.

[NeuroticFish]

Use case of  blockchain isnt about record but the ability to show an efficient way to transfer and received data in a much safer way and transparent one.

Actually blockchain is also good for storing data that's not supposed to ever get altered.
I don't know though if medical records indeed fall into category, I'd guess it's debatable. Some could say that medical history should not change, some could say that people change and the old data may no longer be relevant (although it could be, for example for detecting old/older malpraxis).

What if quantum computers

I find a big silly all the "what if quantum computers" topics, sorry. Let's focus on what we can do and ignore QC, since when we will get to the "what if" cases, your small use cases will be the world smallest problem and your blockchain will have time to be re-built in a QC-resistant way or changed to something QC cannot touch. That's to be seen when there will be the case.

[boyptc]

It's like having a private database that no one shall know unless it's vulgar and someone has leaked it.

That's the same even if quantum computers are said to be cracking blockchain but what if the blockchain that a hospital is using for their medical records is private only to them and only a few folks are aware of its existence?

I don't see any difference of it from having a private database whether it's on SQL, excel, cloud storage or any type of it.

[aysg76]

It's like having a private database that no one shall know unless it's vulgar and someone has leaked it.

That's the same even if quantum computers are said to be cracking blockchain but what if the blockchain that a hospital is using for their medical records is private only to them and only a few folks are aware of its existence?

I don't see any difference of it from having a private database whether it's on SQL, excel, cloud storage or any type of it.

The blockchain technology is used for having records which are accessible by all and cannot be altered so what's the fun of using blockchain if it's private? The hospital records can be maintained on personal storage safe if not using blockchain and we can't say more about on this.

But as we say about quantum computer then the blockchain data is already public and they won't be able to do nothing about it but if we say about alternation of data then we are speaking about huge data change but it's more used in context they can brute force the keys with computations not specifically blockchain data.

I find a big silly all the "what if quantum computers" topics, sorry. Let's focus on what we can do and ignore QC, since when we will get to the "what if" cases, your small use cases will be the world smallest problem and your blockchain will have time to be re-built in a QC-resistant way or changed to something QC cannot touch. That's to be seen when there will be the case.

Right we can't debate about what possible threats the future technology can pose to blockchain as the latest developments will find a way to tackle it or say advance mechanism that will limit the computation to certain levels that brute force is not possible or any other way we are not aware of but can be tackled in future.

[Doan9269]

One major issue with storing sensitive data on the blockchain is that once it is there, the data is permanently there and cannot be changed. What if quantum computers eventually grow so potent that they can defeat every form of encryption we now use?

Ehy do you think even the government now are using the blockchain technology for their privacy and security, the blockchain network dont just work like that, if follows a strict concensus of protocols and this remains immutable ehich means till eternity they cannot be unlocked or altered by any means of a third party interference, you can also undergoe a layer 2 protocols for more privacy since it's an open distributed ledger, and same thing that shows on your computer appears thesame way on every others computer nodes connected all over the world, permit me to its indestructible or will you want to attempts such? regardless of new phantom devices as long as it does not work with the blockchain technology protocols it remains invalid to make an input on the network or alter it.

On the blockchain, all of your users' private information will be accessible to everyone. To store sensitive data like medical records using blockchain technology. Sensitive and private information found in medical records could be used against people if it were made public.

There are more to how you can have your transactions informations displayed, as for records of data information i may not know much but every transaction that is openly shown can also go private on layer two or whenbyou make use of the mixing services for more privacy.

[dkbit98]

Sensitive and private information found in medical records could be used against people if it were made public. in my opinion, would not be an acceptable use case.

Your medical records are probably already online with your centralized government system, so they can already be hacked much easier and even without quantum computers.
Bitcoin exist for more than a decade, it was never hacked and it is running 99.9% of the time, that stats doesn't exist in any centralized system.
That being said, I don't want my sensitive information stored on blockchain, but Bitcoin was never created for that purpose.

[BitMaxz]

Quantum computer has less production compared to ASIC miner which helps the network more secured.
So if you have multiple quantum computers you can't just easily defeat and hack the blockchain due to the mass production of ASIC look at the network hash rate and difficulty it increases every day so no one can able to hack the blockchain.
And this has been discuss here multiple times so you must read them first to know why they can't hack the blockchain.

[tech30338]

if you for what reason store your data in the blockchain, its still encrypted and no one can see it unless you give them the key of course that would be a mistake to give access to everyone, it breaks down your data into parts and then distributed to the chain at the same time data will not be corrupted, for the security to be decrypted it will now depends on your encryption type of course if your data is so sensitive i will choose the hardest , it will take them like 20 plus years to do that, and no one will try that just to check their skills so yea, its was a wise idea in my opinion, correct me if I'm wrong.

[BlackBoss_]

One major issue with storing sensitive data on the blockchain

Is it good to public your sensitive data on Internet?

I believe the answer is no so it does not make sense to discuss is it good to store sensitive data on blockchain. Don't leak your sensitive data anywhere is best.

once it is there, the data is permanently there and cannot be changed.

Only decentralized blockchains won't be reverted but unfortunately centralized blockchains can be reverted by core teams.

Blockchain revert can not delete all past public data from archive pages, scrapers.

[Woodie]

Honestly having sensitive data on the blockchain does sound sketchy at first glance but it all comes down to what protocols have been put in to safe guard this information, just so you know we have blockchain based projects doing  amazing things with it  such as storing of a will which needs to remain unchanged and maintain its originality. And of course bad players will exist in this industry, it all comes down to some research and due diligence when sharing sensitive data.

[Crypt0Gore]

If you have any important data that you want to store off public it's safer to keep them to yourself in an offline manner, storing of data on blockchain may not be completely safe because breaches can still happen, hackers can still find a way around blockchain security.

Keep your sensitive data the same way you keep your wallet recovery seed.

[NeuroticFish]

Keep your sensitive data the same way you keep your wallet recovery seed.

While your wallet seed is best to stay offline, medical data can easily get lost if kept on paper. Archives get burned down, archives get flooded, earthquakes can damage them too. Even more, medical data (see original post!) needs to be shared between various institutions. This makes it important to be kept in a digital format (easy to share, easy to search) in multiple copies. Of course, old school databases replicated in cloud and shared only between the relevant institutions would be the first option, but a blockchain can be OK too in some cases.

Now, as a second thought, if I'd use blockchain (read up a few posts and see my point on malpraxis), I'd probably use a private blockchain for the job, to somewhat reduce the risks of unauthorized access, no matter how good the data is encrypted.

And then even the QC issue OP was mentioning is not an issue.

[Pmalek]

Not all blockchains have public ledgers. You can use a private blockchain to store sensitive medical records. Keys and access rights would be provided for those who need them, and those that don't, wouldn't have access to the system. So, If I was attempting to check the medical data of a random person, I wouldn't be able to do that. But if a doctor needs to access their patient's history to check if they can treat that patient with a particular set of drugs, they would be able to check it.

Medical data is very centralized. If you get injured while you are abroad and you are unconscious and unable to respond to the doctors treating you, the doctors have no way of knowing your medical history, and if there are some type of drugs you are allergic to. Instead of a cure, the treatment could prove to be deadly or cause even more harm. It would be great if such data was available to doctors worldwide and the blockchain is one way in which that could be achieved.   

[boyptc]

It's like having a private database that no one shall know unless it's vulgar and someone has leaked it.

That's the same even if quantum computers are said to be cracking blockchain but what if the blockchain that a hospital is using for their medical records is private only to them and only a few folks are aware of its existence?

I don't see any difference of it from having a private database whether it's on SQL, excel, cloud storage or any type of it.

The blockchain technology is used for having records which are accessible by all and cannot be altered so what's the fun of using blockchain if it's private? The hospital records can be maintained on personal storage safe if not using blockchain and we can't say more about on this.

But as we say about quantum computer then the blockchain data is already public and they won't be able to do nothing about it but if we say about alternation of data then we are speaking about huge data change but it's more used in context they can brute force the keys with computations not specifically blockchain data.

It's like a private entity that should be stored with privacy. If the records are too important, they don't have to broadcast it to everybody that they have kept the records on this particular blockchain where it can be accessed by anyone.

On the business and corporate side of it, it's helpful and only might be given access to a few for where they can specifically search it.

Not because it's just said that it's blockchain, they'll give that access to everybody where all of them can check it. Just like how we keep our records and private keys, that's the point I'm explaining.

[hugeblack]

Medical data such as age, height, facial measurements can be stored openly and transparently for everyone, just like economic and other data, and the rest of the blockchain can be hidden, such as data on mental health, chronic diseases, and military budgets, but the essence of the question lies, why the blockchain?
In the sense that there are more efficient and better solutions than the blockchain in this aspect, and the management of these files by the blockchain (although it is possible) is not the best.

[Zilon]

The blockchain is only a public ledger use to append data that are shared within people in a given network. There is no need of storing personal data on the blockchain. Quantum computations, no matter how advanced it get in the future, it can't outsmart the blockchain because nodes work collectively to maintain the integrity of the network, and it takes more than half of these nodes to get compromised for there to be a successful attack.