Key Points:
- Equifax and Oasis Labs have partnered to create a web3 Know-Your-Customer (KYC) solution.
- To prevent fraud in web3, the two organizations are developing an identity verification system.
- Thanks to the system, users won’t be able to log into markets using fictitious identities.
Equifax, the world’s largest credit reporting company and the subject of one of the most significant data breaches ever, will now assist in creating a data privacy solution for Web3 companies.
The term “Web3” alludes to the subsequent iteration of the web, which its supporters predict would be more decentralized, based on blockchain networks, and employ cryptos.
To provide an identity management and know-your-customer (KYC) solution for Web3 companies, such as DeFi protocols and NFT projects, the organization recently disclosed that it had reached an agreement with privacy-focused cloud company Oasis Labs.
Both companies contend that there hasn’t been a KYC solution designed explicitly for Web3 that offers “strong privacy protection,” and their suggested product is intended to fill this gap by sending wallets of users anonymized KYC credentials.
According to the statement, this credential will be regularly updated; and Oasis promises that its “privacy-preserving capabilities” will ensure that data is handled in confidence while keeping a trail on the business’s blockchain.
What happened with Equifax?
In 2017, there was a significant data breach at Equifax. According to cybersecurity firm UpGuard, around 163 million compromised private records worldwide, of which 148 million belonged to Americans. This makes it the 13th greatest data breach in American history.
Attackers went after Equifax because it had not updated to the most recent version of a third-party web portal that had a known vulnerability. During the approx two and a half months that the hackers had access to the firm’s systems, they stole millions of records holding sensitive data.
After all this, Song, the company’s founder, says that Oasis Labs’ skills outside of KYC, such as in fraud detection and credit reporting, will help in bridging Web2 and Web3.
According to Song, she sees the collaboration as a “first step” toward developing a “universal KYC” that is compatible with various blockchains, businesses, and communities.
