Insights from former Oracle exec Zaldastani
In an age where digital information shapes our daily lives, questions of data ownership, privacy and security have taken on new urgency. This episode of Hashing It Out, hosted by Elisha Owusu Akiau, explores these pressing issues with Nicholas Zaldastany, Chairman and Co-Founder of CESS, a decentralized data storage network. The discussion explored the shift in data sovereignty, the need for decentralized storage, and how blockchain is changing data security.
Data value
“Data is always important,” says Zaldastany, who first realized the strategic importance of data management in the late 1980s, reflecting on his years at Oracle. Since then, the cost of data has grown exponentially, he said. Today, the global economy relies on data as a fundamental resource, influencing everything from targeted advertising to the development of artificial intelligence. As the world becomes more data-driven, the importance of ensuring data privacy and security has never been greater.
Zaldastani described CES as taking steps to protect data in a decentralized ecosystem, short for “community-enhanced storage solutions.” In the year Founded in 2019, the platform aims to give data owners control over their data by solving problems in centralized data storage models, which often require users to relinquish ownership in exchange for convenience.
Data sovereignty
Central to the discussion was the concept of data sovereignty – the idea that individuals should be in control of their own data, including where and how it is stored. Zaldastani says traditional centralized storage systems make it a challenge to protect data from unauthorized access or misuse. At the same time, decentralized networks offer a potential solution by distributing data across multiple nodes instead of storing it in one place.
Related: Hashing It Out: Breaking Oligopoly with Decentralized Infrastructure
Blockchain platforms like CESS are taking unique approaches by dividing data into encrypted chunks and replicating each chunk across multiple nodes. “If someone gets to a node, they only get a fraction of the information,” Zaldastani said. “They have to find and decrypt all the other pieces, which is an almost impossible task.” He emphasized that this approach provides greater security, protecting data from hackers and other potential breaches.
The podcast explores what decentralized data storage means for other sectors such as non-fungal tokens and artificial intelligence.
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