Module 8 of C1b3rWall Academy 2021, “Online scams. Means of payment”, just 8 months since the beginning of another program and the course already has more than 50,000 students from different parts of the world. We are grateful for the participation of all the speakers who have accompanied us on this journey, but above all, to all of you who form part of the C1b3rWall community, which continues to grow.

In Module 8 we have four specialists who will address the most common scams that occur in the network during online payments.

  • “Scams with cryptoassets. Principles of cybersecurity and data protection”, Pablo Fdez. Burgueño from PWC.
  • “CEO scams in O365 I”, Antonio Sanz, from S2 Grupo.
  • “Scams in the network through Means of Payment”, Beatriz Gómez Hermosilla, National Police.
  • “How to detect a cryptocurrency scam? (And not to fall into it) I”, Alberto Muñoz, UNED

We begin this unit with a lecture by Pablo Fernández Burgueño, who will describe the relationship between current data protection legislation and cryptocurrencies.

Blockchain and data protection

We usually associate blockchain with concepts such as functional transparency, immutability, decentralization, anonymous validators, historical permanence, global access to data or unlimited publication (no censorship).

Moreover, data protection is implemented in the European Union and elsewhere through transparency in processing, the right to delete, rectify…, identified controllers, identified processors, limited retention period, confidentiality, and data minimization.

As for cryptocurrency wallets, this is an asymmetric cryptography solution: we have a private key to sign documents, guarantee the integrity of the content and order transactions; and a public key as a unique user identifier to receive transfers. There are several types:

  • Mobile
  • Hardware
  • Desktop
  • Service provider (exchange)
  • Paper

Regardless of the type, we must implement security in transfers, such as establishing strong passwords, establishing a double authentication factor, and making copies of the private key. The majority of the times someone attempts to steal our passwords to make unwanted transfers, it will be through scams or phishing, although it can also be due to errors in the address or in the cryptocurrency itself.

In the blockchain not only monetary transactions can be written, but computer codes in general, such as smart contracts, letters and numbers that can be personal data, as well as tokens referenced to files (NFT) that can contain data.

This is just a part of what you will learn in Pablo’s talk, I invite you to enroll in this module to delve into a topic as interesting as transactions in blockchain.

Enrol here  

Posted by Juan M. Corchado

Juan Manuel Corchado (15 May 1971, Salamanca, Spain) is Professor at the University of Salamanca. He has been Vice-Rector for Research from 2013 to 2017 and Director of the Science Park of the University of Salamanca. Elected as Dean of the Faculty of Science twice, he holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Salamanca and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of the West of Scotland. He leads the renowned BISITE (Bioinformatics, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology) Research Group, created in 2000. Director of the IoT Digital Innovation Hub and President of the AIR Institute, J. M. Corchado is also Visiting Professor at the Osaka Institute of Technology since January 2015, Visiting Professor at the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan and Member of the Advisory Group on Online Terrorist Propaganda of the European Counter Terrorism Centre (EUROPOL). J. M. Corchado has been president of the IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society, and academic coordinator of the University Institute for Research in Art and Animation Technology at the University of Salamanca, as well as researcher at the Universities of Paisley (UK), Vigo (Spain) and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK). He currently combines all his activity with the direction of Master programmes in Security, Digital Animation, Mobile Telephony, Information Systems Management, Internet of Things, Social Media, 3D Design and Printing, Blockchain, Z System, Industry 4.0, Agile Project Management, and Smart Cities & Intelligent Buildings, at the University of Salamanca and his work as editor-in-chief of the journals ADCAIJ (Advances in Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence Journal), OJCST (Oriental Journal of Computer Science and Technology) or Electronics MDPI (Computer Science & Engineering section). J. M. Corchado mainly works on projects related to Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, IoT, Fog Computing, Edge Computing, Smart Cities, Smart Grids and Sentiment Analysis. He has recently been included in the board of trustees of the AstraZeneca Foundation, along with other health professionals and researchers recognised for bringing scientific knowledge closer to society.