🧮Introduction

Sustainable Connected Cloud Metaverse since 2018

iNf4mation is the first blockchain-based, hybrid decentralised DeFi platform in this new era of data privacy. Demand for data privacy and security is at an all time high. Companies need to adapt to this customer-led, changing landscape or risk getting left behind. iNf4mation gives companies the tools to allow them to evolve with the ever-changing data landscape in a way that is secure, regulatory compliant, and driven by user demand for data control. iNf4mation gives users control over their data and gives them the DeFi tools they need to exchange its value directly with others without exploiting its content.

While there are some DeFi platforms that offer efficient decentralized exchange of digital assets, they lack the ability to exchange the incredibly valuable digital asset that is represented by the physical data. iNf4mation enables this through its dedicated DeFi platform, iNf4.finance, unlocking the ability for users to exchange the tokenized value of their data.

In addition, there are some blockchain-based data solutions that offer enhanced security, but they fall short on data ownership and control. These solutions do not offer much of an improvement on the antiquated data management practices which have resulted in major security breaches (household-name examples include Facebook, Marriott, Yahoo, Experian, etc). Companies are faced with the difficult challenge of complying with the ever-changing demands of the data regulator and receive huge fines for non-compliance, all at the risk of your data with little or no compensation to you!

The need for better data security is one of the driving forces behind this project. One of the largest data breaches was Yahoo, who admitted in 2017 that all ~3 billion of its user accounts had been compromised. In November 2018 Marriott International revealed that hackers had stolen ~500 million customer records, which included names and addresses as well as passport information. In July 2017, Equifax announced that an application vulnerability led to a data breach that exposed ~47.9 million consumer records, including social security numbers. In April 2021, personal data on ~533 million Facebook users re-emerges online for free - a reminder of the company’s ability to collect mountains of information and its struggles to protect these sensitive assets Meanwhile, it is a well-known fact that the customer data generated from these businesses is extremely valuable. According to gov.uk, the world leading CRM provider (Salesforce) has over 5 billion transactions per day, making it one of the most data-intensive platforms on the market. With a yearly revenue expected to be over $20 billion, it is easy to see just how valuable this data is.

iNf4mation is the first blockchain-based, hybrid decentralised DeFi platform in this new era of data privacy. It gives users the power to own, control, and exchange the value of their data, and it gives companies a revolutionary platform to access data that is not only secure and regulatory-compliant, but also user-approved and declared.

It allows valuable data to be stored and shared securely between users, businesses and applications without putting vulnerable PII at risk. It gives users complete control over their data, allowing them to choose what data is shared, and with which companies they share it, and unlocking the power to exchange the tokenized value of their data.

While there are some blockchain-based data solutions that offer upgraded security, they fall short on data ownership and control. These do not offer much of an improvement on the antiquated data management practices which have resulted in major security breaches (e.g., Yahoo, Marriott, etc). Companies need to comply with the changing demands of data regulation. This means giving users control over their data. iNf4mation takes this control one step further by enabling users to exchange the tokenized value of their data in the greater DeFi marketplace.

Big business platforms deliver dynamic data management. However, the future data landscape will require dynamic data ownership solutions that are more customer-centric. In addition, it is important to acknowledge the importance of interoperability between platforms and data ownership solutions. Data ownership solutions should be trustworthy, secure, open-source, and ready to comply with strict regulations.

One of the most notable breaches pertained to the Cambridge Analytica data breach, which not only exposed the personal information of over 87 million Facebook users, but also revealed that our personal data was not only being harvested and monetized without our consent, but that it was also being used against us.

The public is appalled by the lack of security and privacy surrounding their sensitive personal data, as well as how their personal data is being harvested and used to target them, and they have been clamoring for more regulation. Regulators are quickly responding to this public outcry for more data privacy and security. Businesses are struggling to keep up with the rapidly changing compliance landscape. Already there are a number of data regulations of varying strictness that exist around the world, with more being introduced seemingly every day.

This extensive list of regulations include, and is not limited to the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) in the United States, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) in Canada, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe, the Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI) in Japan, and the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (PDPO) in Hong Kong, one of Asia's longest standing comprehensive data protection laws, just to name a few.

These regulations require businesses to more strictly and securely protect a user’s private data, and in some cases in accordance with the user’s personal data rights. Unfortunately the existing data management solutions continue to make this ever-changing compliance landscape difficult for businesses to navigate.

Furthermore, the majority of the existing data management systems are woefully archaic. They lack the ability to be readily compliant, and they are difficult to migrate to newer, more compliant systems. Businesses are desperate to find better solutions as regulations continue to grow stricter. iNf4mation is a blockchain-based DeFi platform that is addressing four critical aspects of data management:

• Security

• Compliance

• User Exchange & Control

• Trust

iNf4mation has pioneered a solution that focuses on these four aspects. To process data, one of the techniques iNf4mation employs is known as “data masking”. Data masking functions by making certain data, such as transactions, publicly accessible, while sensitive data is held privately, encrypted and “masked”. This provides a secure layer for storing data that delivers both security and user control of data. By decoupling its architecture and utilising blockchain technology such as smart contracts and set logic, iNf4mation enables data to be more available while protecting it from being decrypted by malicious actors or hackers.

The iNf4mation platform focuses and manages these four key aspects of the data feed from various channels. Data is funneled through encrypted data stores, where intelligent logic determine which data should be made publicly available, and a smart contract automatically records this publicly available data on the blockchain. Users maintain control over their data and its availability through their own screening and security policies. iNf4mation is the all-in-one DeFi solution to data management and user control.