Uses And Benefits Of Identity Management Using Blockchain Technology

Having a record about yourself, what you look like, qualities unique to you, the qualifications you possess, and traits that distinguish you from another is an essential part of the digital economy we currently live in. Today, digital identification is preferred over traditional identification methods for innumerable reasons, ranging from easy accessibility to all online services, streamlined processes and accuracy, to a superior protection of privacy. With digitization enabling the creation of handy, authenticatable identities, the necessity to ensure that sensitive information remains private has become absolutely necessary. Identity management, one of the crucial aspects of digital identity, is the technology based on which someone is granted or denied access to organizational services or systems.

How Does Blockchain Technology Support Identity Management?
With the arrival of blockchain technology, we have been made familiar with decentralized identification systems. These help us to manage our identity independently, with zero dependence on any centralized agency. Considering the fact that maintaining digital identity is subject to hindrances such as identity theft, maintaining a confusing collection of usernames and passwords to access different online services, it poses a general difficulty to manage. With blockchain technology, we can create identity management systems that are protected, encrypted, and user-friendly.

The basic idea is that sensitive identity-related data is saved directly onto a tamper-proof blockchain system which is always accessible exclusively to the owner online. Alternatively, third parties could be provided with access to the blockchain with data relating to the owners’ identity which would do away with the necessity to keep this data stored anywhere else.

Some Use Cases of the Blockchain Identity System
The scope of blockchain utilization for identity management is slowly unfolding; offerings related to the technology continue to develop and manifest:

Self Sovereign Identity- Conventional systems related to identity management have always been messy, convoluted, and prone to misuse. Utilizing the blockchain system of Self Sovereign Identity gives owners absolute control over their digital identity, eliminating involvement from intermediaries. For this purpose, trustless, portable blockchain based structures are already in use.
Generating permanent identity records- Information contained within a blockchain cannot be altered or tampered with, without disrupting the entire chain. Records created utilizing this technology are permanent, immutable, and absolutely protected.
Identity management for IoT systems- Identity management for IoT devices involves ensuring secure, accountable, and verifiable transactions for interactions involving IoT-to-Users and IoT-to-IoT. Currently, projects based on blockchain are employed to ensure secure IoT transactions.
Smart contracts- The concept of decentralized, shared ledger systems, formulated utilizing blockchain technology could be used to fabricate identity-enabled self-executing smart contracts.
Other applications- Identity verification while immigrating to another country, making online purchases, undergoing legal processes, applying for a loan, or background verification processes could be enacted utilizing this technology.
Benefits of Blockchain Based Identity Management
Let us take a closer look at some of the benefits of blockchain based identity management for users and businesses:

Trustlessness- In a distributed ledger system, decentralization is ensured, which entails that owners no longer have to place their faith on any third party.
Safety- Since all the information stored in a blockchain is encrypted and tamper-proof, the identity details remain secure, accessible to only the owner.
Elimination of dependency on paper-based identity management- The creation and storage of identity on blockchains means that you never have to go through the process of applying for a duplicate if the need ever arises, saving your time and resources in the process.
ID verification simplified- The automation of processes initiated by this technology does away with cumbersome manual chackes, streamlining processes for everyone involved.
Great user experience- Uploading digital identity onto a distributed ledger is a breeze, with the entire process being as uncomplicated as installing an app and entering identity related proof and information.
Transparent while being private- People involved in the blockchain system can track down details of transactions made, while privacy for everyone is made certain.
Uniqueness ensured- On the blockchain system, owners receive a unique ID number that is permanent, incorruptible, and can be used to efficiently validate themselves.
Overview

Blockchain, the technology previously associated almost exclusively with cryptocurrency, has evolved into a comprehensive framework that is being implemented into different industry sectors. As a still developing technology, blockchain is not completely impervious to contamination in that counterfeit data can still be verified, for example. Yet, it is still regarded as a secure and reliable solution for issues related to identity management. Utilizing blockchain technology along with artificial intelligence for identity verification ensures accuracy, privacy, transparency, and anonymity.

GeekyAnts, as a leading Blockchain and Internet of things( IoT) app development company, offers blockchain solutions for identity management to users and businesses looking to streamline, automate, and efficiently handle processes. The company is well known within the development community for their experimental approach towards all things tech and their work on blockchain based solutions. With an experience of 17+ years, they have already collaborated on numerous blockchain based projects, transforming a range of industries.

How is Wearable Devices Revolutionizing Medical IoT?

Wearable devices are the center of attraction for every discussion that aims to define innovation in IoT. The wearable medical devices market is expected to reach USD 14.41 Billion by 2022 from USD 5.31 Billion in 2016, at a CAGR of 18.3% during the forecast period (Source). Technology has enabled users to monitor their health indicators constantly and significantly reduce preventive and monitoring costs. Wearable devices are chosen for this task and are one of the most efficient integrations to telemedicine and telehealth besides the mobile. This article will explore some of this realm’s important aspects.

Let’s Know Wearable Devices Better
The most relevant definition of wearable electronics is the “devices that can be worn or mated with the human skin to constantly and closely monitor an individual’s activities without interrupting user’s motions.”

Today, the range of wearable systems, including micro-sensors, seamlessly integrate into various industries such as textiles, consumer electronics, automatic watches, belt-worn personal computers, and glasses. Due to this, they are now designed to cater to a broader spectrum of applications.

The combination of wearable and health monitoring systems aims to minimize wearable devices’ size, measure vital signs, and send secure and reliable data using smartphones. Hence, one of the obvious applications of wearable systems is monitoring the physiological parameters in the mobile environment.

Application of Wearable Devices in Healthcare
The busy world has led to a life that focuses on shuttling between various tasks. This has caused most of us to ignore one of the most important aspects of our lives, “health and fitness.” A simple health checkup by the doctor requires a plethora of medical examinations followed by prescriptions and treatments that consume a great deal of time. This is probably the most potent reason people only visit a doctor when suffering from illness. The very attitude paves ways to find alternatives, such as a device that can be worn on the body and has the potential to monitor the user’s health in real-time, constantly. These devices should also provide the users and the medical practitioner with insight into various health parameters. Wearables are generally aimed at fulfilling these objectives in the healthcare ecosystem.

56% of the Americans use some kind of wearable technology.
88% of the physicians want patients to monitor their health parameters at home
35% of the employers use medical wearable technology to improve the quality of wellness programs and lower health insurance costs.
Wearable technology drops hospital costs by 16% over 5 years
Some other applications of wearables IoT in healthcare can be listed as follows.

1. Motion Tracking
Human movement tracking has various valuable applications in sports, medical, and other branches of studies. These applications include fall risk assessment, qualifying sports exercises, analyzing people’s habits, and monitoring them. Wearable trackers are gaining worldwide popularity for their ability to accomplish all these tasks, aid users in performing their daily workouts and help them manage their activity at the tip of their fingers. They also keep the users abreast of their daily motions like distance walked, which enables them to keep track of their activities and ensure a healthy life.

2. Vital Sign Monitoring
This is one of the most crucial applications of IoT in medicine. Constant monitoring has enabled adequate healthcare for patients. More than half of the wearable users believe that technology has improved mental health. Making smart use of complex algorithms and their analysis, wearables foster better medical attention and care for patients in remote areas or places that stay aloof from immediate medical help. Remote patient monitoring saves the healthcare system $200 billion over 25 years. Many wearable devices have been implemented to measure critical elements in the healthcare monitoring ecosystem. These devices include names like an electrocardiogram (ECG) and electroencephalogram (EEG) measurement, skin temperature regulators, etc., and mark the efforts of wearable devices to provide multi-task vital signs measurement.

3. Improve Patient Experience
Seamless connection between the devices has enabled patients to control room temperature and electronics and even communicate with loved ones or call medical assistance with a few clicks. Even the medical practitioners can access the patient’s information on the go through the cloud availability. This has, in turn, facilitated the patients and the medical aids to relish a great user experience.

Challenges Faced by Wearables for medical IoT
IoT devices should be empowered with easy-to-use and robust application access. Worldwide, researchers have proposed multiple platforms and structures that have formed the base of commercial devices available for bio-medical parameter measurement. However, there are still many challenges that need to be addressed. Here are the four key capabilities that are missing from the leading platforms.

1. Simple and Secure Connectivity
A good IoT platform should enable easy connection of devices and perform device management functions on three levels data collection, data transmission to the hub, and permanent storage of observation values to the medical station. The steps should be carried out most securely to ensure accurate data transmission and to protect the data. For this, encryption is necessary.

2. Power Consumption
Power consumption is one of the most crucial things to provide the user with easy device management and long-term, uninterrupted monitoring. These factors can be correlated to the number of parameters being monitored, code efficiency, data packaging, encryption, and compression.

3. Wearability
Wearable devices are specifically designed for biomedical monitoring. This, in turn, assists individuals in living long and healthy lives. This point is more significant when elderly people are using the devices. Therefore, such devices must be easy to use and carry and offer users comfort. These requirements can be easily overcome by making light, small, and well-structured devices that can be used for a long duration.

4. Risk Associated with Data Loss
While the data is being transferred from the collecting element, microcontroller, to the smartphone or cloud storage, there are chances of disconnection that might lead to data loss. A safe health monitoring system must ensure to overcome this shortcoming. One of the potential solutions to this is temporary data saving in the microcontroller.

Conclusion
Wearable devices have been gaining worldwide popularity in diverse fields, including sports and fitness to health monitoring. It has enabled individual tracking of the number of parameters in their living or working environment. The IoT devices and wearables are here to stay. Their popularity and usage are expected to surge significantly over the next few years. As the Giants take it to the forefront of IoT development services It is evident that IoT and wearables will form a major part of the healthcare industry.

Texas Car Insurance

In Texas, there is a great number of people being stopped, or during an accident that do not have the necessary auto coverage (about 1/4 of all autos are driven without auto insurance). It is imperative to know the current laws of the Texas state, when looking for a car insurance. Do not trust only on price of an insurance policy when you are obtaining your Texas car insurance. Good insurance does not necessarily have to be expensive, but remember “you get what you pay for”.

Your car insurance quote should include basic auto liability coverage. Keep in mind during your search for a Texas car insurance estimate, this is the nominal liability auto coverage obligatory. There are quite a few vehicles that if damaged or totaled, will cost more than the 25/50/25 auto liability requirement. The insurance company will pay up to this amount; unluckily you will be accountable for the remaining costs. Consequently you may reflect increasing your liability limits if you can afford to do so. This will effect in a rise in your auto insurance quote.

If you wish to have a coverage that will repair or replace your car that is involved in a motor vehicle accident, you must add complete and crash coverage to your liability policy. This coverage is required by most finance companies if you are financing or leasing your car. This is done to protect the finance company against a lost if the vehicle is involved in an accident. This will also increase your car insurance quote.

Searching for car insurance quotes online is another way to get multiple quotes from different companies. By doing so, you may be able to get an inexpensive rate. If you chose to do this, you need to have some knowledge in the various coverage’s that are available and also what is required by law.