What Security and Privacy Means For Blockchain Tech

Bitcoin Wednesday’s 5-Year Anniversary on 4-5 July, 2018 brings CEO Liz Steininger of Least Authority to the conference to talk about how privacy and security relates to the digital currency revolution. Her company was founded by Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn, the creator of Zcash.

Cryptocurrencies with anonymity features have been vilified by both law enforcement and the media, but very little mention has been made of what using these technologies mean for individual security and privacy.  That awkward omission raises the issue of what the world will be like if individuals are expected to cede (even more) control over their own information to organizations like governments and banks.

Liz’s presentation will address this topic and will also cover:

• Why we need privacy for everyone.
• How security is important to privacy.
• How blockchain and distributed ledger tech is a chance to make privacy a priority.
• How these technologies can work with GDPR and data protection.
• How we get security by design on a blockchain or distributed ledger.
• How we perform security auditing and other practices.
• What are the potential approaches and solutions for privacy.
• What are the next steps for the industry.

Liz Steininger is the CEO and Managing Director of Least Authority in Berlin, a company that supports the citizen’s right to privacy through security consulting and solutions.  The name of the company is taken from the “least authority” principle in information security, through which a system is only granted access to the data needed to perform the purpose for which it was intended.

Prior to this work, she managed financing for Internet freedom projects at the Open Technology Fund. She has more than 16 years of experience as a Project Manager, Program Manager and Analyst on numerous tech development projects in both private companies and public organizations. She holds an M.S. in Management & Technology from Carlow University and a B.S. in Digital Media from Drexel University in the United States of America.