The global economy has constant breakouts of counterfeiting and fraud that have only escalated over the past two decades. These illegal operations represent a serious and multifaceted threat to many businesses, including financial services, medicines, electronics and luxury goods. There have been big strides throughout these industries to clamp down on the amount of fraudulent activity.
The financial toll that counterfeiting and fraud have on the world economy is ever-growing. The Global Brand Counterfeiting Report estimates that in 2017 alone, losses from global online intellectual property infringement reached a total of $323 billion. These illegal practices, such as bank scams and frauds, can harm a brand’s reputation and result in consumers losing trust in them, which will decrease the overall income and profits of a company.
Blockchain is a new technology that is helping combat fraud and counterfeiting, but how exactly does it help the surgical industry? We will explore this throughout this article and give you an in-depth look into how Blockchain works.
How Blockchain is a Game Changer
Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology (DLT) that makes it possible to store data securely and impenetrably across numerous computers throughout the world. Whether it pertains to contracts, identities, assets or transactions, this data is kept in blocks that are subsequently connected in a chain utilising cryptographic concepts.
There are unique properties of Blockchain that make it the perfect tool to fight fraud and counterfeiting. These include:
- Immutability: The information contained in a block is almost impossible to change once it is added to the blockchain. Because of its immutability, the data is guaranteed to be accurate and the likelihood of fraudulent manipulation is greatly decreased.
- Transparency: Every transaction that is registered on the blockchain is accessible to every member of the network. Because of this accountability-fostering transparency, it is more difficult for fraudulent transactions to go undetected.
- Decentralisation: Compared to traditional centralised systems, blockchain functions through a peer-to-peer network in which numerous users share control. Single points of failure that fraudsters and counterfeiters can take advantage of are eliminated by this.
This technology will get to a point where counterfeit goods can be tracked much easier and every attempt at fraud can be squashed through strong verification methods. New legal challenges must be navigated carefully and consistently to be able to keep up with fraudulent activity.
Why Use Blockchain for Surgical Security?
Utilising Blockchain storage, surgery theatres can now significantly enhance the privacy and integrity of medical data. This will hopefully minimise the risks associated with access breaches of patient records that are integral for surgical procedures to work efficiently.
Three main benefits enable a new level of security for the surgical industry through Blockchain usage:
- Blockchain technology is decentralised, so healthcare organisations can significantly lower their risk of data loss by eliminating a single point of failure and dispersing data over a decentralised network.
- Cryptographic methods offer a mathematical guarantee that the data cannot be compromised to safeguard data secured by blockchain.
- Blockchain prevents tampering by accounting for all data access.
The NHS National Programme fell apart due to poor IT security that was easily affected by fraudulent activity. The blockchain-based electronic health record known as phrOS (Personal Health Record Operating System) was unveiled by Taipei Medical University in 2017. Patients can maintain and compile their medical records thanks to the hospital system.
As a result of this, organisations have the option to grant access to their data to other companies and save data directly to PhrOS. Therefore, in contrast to traditional records, the phrOS enables the collection of data from various sources to provide a more comprehensive image of the patient’s general health and well-being.
Threats to the Future of Blockchain
The growing applications of blockchain technology, particularly in the healthcare industry, are generating excitement among the general public, but the technology’s future is not entirely bright. The environmental impact is the most frequently mentioned worry. Bitcoin alone uses 128 terawatt-hours of power annually to run, which is equivalent to 0.6% of the total energy consumed worldwide. This is ten times more than what Google uses in a year.
In the absence of efficiency gains, resistance to the technology is likely to increase. However, there should be further developments in Blockchain technology as the years go by, meaning that we should reach a point where the Blockchain is insusceptible to any fraudulent activity. That’s the hope, at least.
Security is ironically the second concern. As services like Bitcoin increase in popularity, the number of computers holding the ledger increases and so the likelihood of hackers managing to alter 51% of the ledgers reduces. However, that danger is substantially larger with smaller or early-stage “new ledgers,” therefore the data stored in a new healthcare blockchain platform could not be as secure as users are made to think. This would jeopardise extremely private information.
With that being said, the positives of using Blockchain in the surgical industry heavily outweigh any negatives as it appears to be our best hope of keeping patient’s personal information safe from any fraud or scam attempts.
Conclusion
Blockchain technology presents a promising solution to the pervasive issue of counterfeiting and fraud in the surgical industry. By leveraging its immutability, transparency and decentralisation, Blockchain can significantly enhance data security, patient privacy and the overall integrity of surgical operations.
While challenges such as scalability and environmental concerns remain, the potential benefits of blockchain in combating fraud and counterfeiting are substantial. As the technology continues to evolve and mature, it is likely to play an increasingly important role in safeguarding the surgical industry and ensuring the safety and well-being of patients.
