Securing Data persistent on a blockchain. Is this not contradicting, as everything is freely accessible?

Jun 15, 2021 | 4ART App

Hey all,

one of our core ideas is the protection of artworks. This includes making sure that an artwork itself is protected from counterfeiting as much as possible. And to keep culturally valuable art for the future.

To identify counterfeits we do use our patented technology with which we create the 4ARTpassport. How it works.

We do store all artwork data redundant and independent from customer data. The artwork data will be made available to a foundation of leading art institutions and companies. This way we can make sure that culturally valuable art data will prolong.
-> Check!

The importance of data storage

But wait a second, we all know that stored data might be hacked, or altered by insiders and and and ….

The answer is that: data that is stored on a blockchain is not changeable. But if we do so, it is freely accessible to anybody. Also associated data like a purchase contract, condition reports, other documents and data the current owner might not want to publish as it probably contains persons names. And persons do have the right of not having their names stored freely accessible.

Some people now may claim that we could use a private chain, but thinking this to an end tech insiders know why this is not a secure approach.

Nobody can manipulate our 4ARTpassport data

So we came up with a simple solution. Data that should never change is getting “hashed” through an algorithm and this hash we do store on the blockchain. At the same time our system is comparing the actual recalculated hash of data blocks and compares those with the respective hash stored on the blockchain. If it is not matching we are sure that the data has been altered and is not to be considered safe anymore. Voila! We know things are wrong and could restore the last correct data block.

But even more important, nobody could manipulate our 4ARTpassport data or any of the other data associated with the artwork. This ensures that the data we hold is of integrity. Yes, the idea sounds simple, however, technically it is a bit more sophisticated. Nevertheless we have been able to achieve it, without the drawback of low speeds on a secure block chain.

Hope this gave you some thoughts for your projects.

Kind regards,
Kai

 

About the author:

???? Kai Zeh loves that at 4ART we can be creative ourselves, but also develop creative solutions for creative people.

His superpower is to adapt his digital competence and tactical knowledge to innovative projects, always thinking about how to make the client’s life easier.

Fun fact:  “I have curly hair. I just don’t show it anymore.” ????