BLOKSEC

“If you’ve ever heard the term chain of custody, which shows that something hasn’t been tampered with along the way, we’re doing that in the digital sense,” explains Mike Gillan, who co-founded Bloksec with business partner Ketan Kapadia. “We’re keeping a digital record and storing it in a blockchain. You can prove through looking at the hashes of the records on the chain that it hasn’t been tampered with.”

Bloksec is making the move from authentication to consent. Picture this: If you wanted to transfer money to a friend or even a business, Bloksec would send an alert to your phone that requests permission for the transaction to happen. The same thing happens when an automated bill is paid or a purchase is made on your credit card. This allows you to make an informed decision about any money leaving your accounts. On any given day, it’s just an additional safety measure — but when you get an alert about a transaction you didn’t make, it’s a useful tool that stops theft before it happens. While Bloksec is designed to protect individuals from fraud, it’s ideal for businesses as well. It’s built to work with any website, from small businesses to major players in the financial industry.

Tech like this can have far reaching implications. Imagine being able to consent to a credit check with the touch of a button on your smartphone, or stop someone from using your SIN number to apply for a credit card. It’s also invaluable in the health care industry, where medical professionals could assign and approve patient treatments on the go while protecting patients from data breaches.