The Data Revolution
Tags: security, machinelearning, privacy, career
Published: 2022-11-12 23:31:08


Tech Revolutions are much like regular ones. They come out of the blue and are ruthless. They turn everything upside down, make previous conventions redundant and open numerous new opportunities. It has been well known that missing out on these innovations [can be detrimental to business](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237151983_Correlation_between_innovation_and_performance_of_construction_firms). For example, everyone remembers Kodak or Nokia. Yet, only a few realise that the reason they no longer exist is that they overlooked smartphones. Yet, there are ways you can anticipate these huge technological shifts. There are always signs which can be noticed, and today this is exactly what we are going to do.
 
**Huge potential is lost**
First, we need to understand what the current situation in the world is. We live in the age of big data and ubiquitous computing. Your phone, your car, your fridge and even that smart socket you have recently purchased – all these gadgets collect information about us all the time, logging what we do or where we go. At the same time, we have developed advanced analytics algorithms based on complex neural networks that can do magic with the data collected from you. They can predict your preferences, your ambitions and even [your pregnancy](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/?sh=26a90eea6668). If only your data would be used for the good cause, it would have been perfect. Yet, bad guys also benefit from your data, making them hunt it. 
 
In 2021 alone, there were more than [1,864 data breaches](https://www.preemptive.com/security-breaches-of-2021/). This made governments make strict regulations around sensitive user data, trying to protect it from malicious actors. You might be familiar with GDPR laws in Europe, for example. These regulations control how data is stored, transferred, and processed, ensuring no leaks happen. Being a good security mechanism, this completely removed the opportunity for good guys to use the advanced models to improve our lives and give everyone their artificial intelligence assistant.
 

**The light on the horizon**
However, this is changing today. Several new technologies allow something previously considered insane. You can send your sensitive data to someone for them to do work on it, and it would be perfectly secure. They will not be able to gain anything out of it besides what you allow them to. So, for example, for your health records, you can be sure they are only used to train a new Neural Network to detect cancer in the early stages and not sold on the black market to some scammers to blackmail you. The same can be done with every other piece of data you generate, making them work for a good cause without any risk to you. 
 
The amount of benefits the protected usage of data holds is astonishing. Companies can combine data with their industry partners securely to squash fraud, get secure access to private customer data to provide better services, like insurance quotes or launch truly anonymous and secure applications, such as VPNs and DApps, that have no backdoors. It is hard even to estimate how it will change our life, but what is clear is that the next Data Revolution is happening, and it is going to be huge. 
 
**Privacy Enhancing Technology**
As promised, here are a few words about how to ride the wave of this new revolution. Be one of the early adopters, and start learning and building with these new. Several technologies are competing right now, which can be broadly split into Hardware and Software categories. Hardware-based are the easiest to start working with and are the most mature today. 
 
[Confidential Computing](https://www.ibm.com/cloud/learn/confidential-computing) is a concept where a special chip protects sensitive user data from everyone, even the computer owner. The computer does all computations in an encrypted way and can be seen as a truly honest uncompromisable actor. With Confidential Computing, it is easy to port applications, as the security chip is not much different from the other chips we are used to working with. The only drawback of the Confidential Computing unit is that you must trust the chip manufacturer, which for some, might be a tough decision. 
 
An alternative to Hardware-based is Software which relies on advanced mathematics and cryptography. There, you do not need to put trust in anyone, the technology is self-sustained. The most developed technology out there are Zero Knowledge Proofs, which allows one to prove a fact without disclosing any confidential information used to prove it. The ZKP lacks some freedom of expression. Thus there are more advanced techniques under development, such as Fully Homomorphic Encryption and Multi-Party Computations. They are proven to be able to match the functionality of Confidential Computing, yet are still in the early days, likely needing another 5 or so years to mature.
 
**Summary**
All in all, there is no doubt that the Data Revolution is coming. With the Data Collection and Analytics capabilities already in place, Private Computations is the last piece of the puzzle. Together, these technologies will shake up the foundation of our society, bringing advanced artificial intelligence and all kinds of automation into our lives. The key steps to be on top of it are simple. Learn and specialise in one of the three fields. And then, find a way to combine the tree in your company, as they are an unbeatable combination to advance it.