What are the implications of Web3 on data collection and cybersecurity?

One of the topics on the discussion agenda of the 2024 edition of the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, which will take place in Austin, United States, between March 8-16, Web3 – or Web 3.0 – is being touted as the “future of the internet”. It will bring significant changes in the network structure that promote decentralization, requiring new efforts in security.

The Internet has undergone many transformations since its founding. The first phase, also known as Web1, was based on HTML, URL and HTTP technologies and had centralized information; It was marked as a network where users obtained data but did not interact with it.

With the democratization of Internet access and the development of new technologies, the web has entered a new phase that brings greater search capabilities, interactivity, and content consumption. Web2 ushered in the era of social networks, blogs, streaming platforms, podcasts, algorithms, among other tools.

However, the second stage is still characterized by centralization; Several companies control the market and demand users to provide their data. The model, dominated by giants such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon, has put personal information at risk given the possibility of leaks or sales.

What is Web3 and what are its implications for cybersecurity?

Risks associated with data collection are among the key problems Web3 is trying to solve. The concept focuses on complete centralization of the internet by eliminating the central controller to increase user security.

It was created by computer scientist Gavin Wood, co-founder of the cryptocurrency Ethereum. The third phase of the Internet is based on the use of web applications distributed through a peer-to-peer (P2P) network.. Data is always visible to all nodes and cannot be changed or deleted without the agreement of the participants.

Web3 uses technologies such as blockchain to store information to enable decentralized management. Thus, the companies that own the providers will no longer be needed.

This change brings significant impacts to cybersecurity, as the user becomes responsible for the maintenance and control of their data. The project is based on consensus, which requires the integration of some tools to verify any changes to the content.

Among these, it is worth highlighting mechanisms such as proof of work (PoW) and proof of stake (PoS) used in blockchain. Besides, new network relies on encryption to ensure mutual verification of informationIt contributes to the next phase of the Internet being, in theory, much more secure than Web2.

What are the main challenges of Web3?

For mass adoption of the decentralized internet, some limitations must be resolved. Scalability is one of them because transactions occur slower; Payments are an example of this because they need to be processed in a miner before spreading through the network, and even updates are affected.

It is also worth mentioning the user experience (UX), as interaction with decentralized applications (DApps) requires advanced knowledge, making usability difficult for ordinary people and the lack of integration with the most popular browsers. High cost is another limiting factor at the moment.

It should also be noted that difficulties with Cybersecurity on Web3. Private keys of digital wallets through which cryptographic assets are accessed can become targets of cyber attacks and require increased care in managing user credentials.

Another important point is the absence of encryption when validating API queries to authenticate the connection of one of the network nodes. As Cloudflare highlights, currently many of these queries are not encrypted, making them vulnerable to attacks that result in data theft or leakage.

Smart contracts for disintermediary transactions, which are part of blockchain technology, are another concern. Any vulnerability in them can lead to serious consequences, including financial losses.Like the theft of $31 million worth of cryptocurrency in 2021.

Another risk is the possibility of unauthorized access to data even with strengthened security. This raises privacy concerns depending on the type of information stored, and also raises discussions about behavioral issues.

What is the difference between Web3 and the current web?

In practice, you do not need to create an account or perform any identification process to access a website or service on the decentralized internet, unlike what is currently the case. This is because the middlemen that store the data are eliminated.

Generally, internet users only need a cryptocurrency wallet to interact with DApps. All exchanges of information in this digital medium are listed on a public network ledger, as are cryptoactive transactions, which theoretically prevent manipulation.

How to access Web3?

Web3 is currently under development. Despite, It is possible to try out some of the new technologies by performing any blockchain-based transaction.Like investing in cryptocurrencies or buying from NFT marketplaces.

While browsers such as Brave and Opera are more amenable to the concept, Chrome, Edge and Safari rely on extensions to use the digital wallet. It is estimated that it may take some time for the format to become widely available due to obstacles that make implementation difficult.

Did you like the content? So pay attention to this TecMundo To stay up to date on this and other topics discussed at SXSW. To the next one!