THELOGICALINDIAN - February 4th the IRS appear that its systems were experiencing a accouterments abortion that was awkward taxprocessing systems Their systems are technologically anachronistic back their centralized architectonics offers inferior aegis and a distinct point of abortion compared to Bitcoins decentralized nature
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The IRS & Banking Technologies are Obsolete
After experiencing some downtime, the IRS announced that the computer systems were operational again. The IRS cachet amend included the afterward explanation: “It’s important to agenda that at this time this bearings appears to be a accouterments failure.”
The IRS computer networks assume to breach bottomward often. In fact, the IRS advice systems were included in the abominable account of the Top 15 Worst Computer Software Blunders, in July 2013. According to the article, “These top 15 affliction computer software blunders led to embarrassment, massive banking losses, and alike death.”
The latest IRS computers abortion could account tax allotment to be delayed. However, “At this time, the IRS does not ahead above acquittance disruptions,” the IRS reassures taxpayers. “We abide to apprehend that 9 out of 10 taxpayers will accept their refunds aural 21 days.”
This is not the aboriginal time that taxpayers cat-and-mouse for their refunds are afflicted by the IRS’ poor technology infrastructure. In February 2012, a annihilate additionally afflicted the apparatus Where Is My Refund? In response, the IRS announced: “This is a acting situation, and we apprehend to boldness the amount in a few days. At that time, taxpayers will be able to get an accepted acquittance date back they appointment Where’s My Refund.”
Interestingly, these computer glitches disrupted alone the arrangement that is accompanying to the processing of tax returns. But that is not all. In July 2006, addition IRS computer arrangement abortion amount taxpayers millions of dollars, “because a computer affairs that screens tax allotment for counterfeit refunds wasn’t operating,” appear Chron.com.
Similarly, banks and added banking institutions are additionally decumbent to arrangement failures, putting at accident millions of dollars. Banking institutions’ analytical abstracts can sometimes additionally be inaccurate. For instance, in August 2015, abounding banking institutions were clumsy to account the NAV (net asset values), because of a computer annihilate of the Bank of New York Mellon’s network. In a centralized, trusted arrangement topology, afflicted banking institutions were application the Bank of New York Mellon systems to account the NAV, CNBC reported.
“The consistent abashing could booty abounding canicule to bright up, said bodies at several of the companies affected, and it was cryptic whether investors may accept concluded up affairs or affairs funds at inaccurate prices during the high-volume trading of the accomplished few days.],” the address added.
Across the Atlantic, the bearings is no better. Due to a alternation of arrangement failures, the UK Parliament’s Treasury Committee has had to appetite banks to advance in advice technology assets to anticipate failures. In effect, “Britain’s retail banks accept been hit by a cardinal of technology failures in contempo years, causing aggravation to hundreds of bags of barter and bidding assembly to alarm for added advance in banking technology,” appear the New York Times.
Moreover, because coffer systems await on “trusted” authorities, the accident of artifice is greater. Specifically, managers and coffer tellers who are trusted with burning admission to clients’ claimed abstracts and banknote accept become a concern. According to the New York Times, prosecutors, government officials, and aegis experts admonish audience to anguish added about the “rogue teller” abaft the window than about adult hackers.
Banking on Bitcoin & Its Blockchain Tech
What can we apprentice from these assorted IT arrangement failures and aegis risks? It is important to advance and advance decentralized peer-to-peer networks, in which the abstracts is aggregate and accurate by all the nodes accommodating in the network.
Unfortunately, today’s banking institutions’ networks accomplish aural a centralized, veiled, undistributed, permissioned, and trusted paradigm.
In the decentralized and arguable Bitcoin world, miners, about every ten minutes, aggregate awaiting affairs and afterwards acceptance their correctness, they add the transaction abstracts into a block. Miners again adjoin this block to the blockchain. The blockchain is a permissionless (i.e. anyone can participate), broadcast database. It is a agenda ledger, which continuously annal and food all the Bitcoin affairs that accept anytime occurred back the aboriginal block was created (the alpha block). Without a axial authority, miners are economically incentivized by a accolade in bitcoins to ensure the authority of anniversary transaction.
Thus, to advance a arrangement that is transparent, secure, and allowed to a distinct point of failure, banking institutions should accede application Bitcoin and its blockchain technology. Indeed, Bitcoin and its blockchain accept the key attributes bare to accommodate banking institutions with a robust, secure, transparent, and with no distinct point of abortion network.
Bank consortiums and others banking institutions are acceptable more admiring to Bitcoin’s blockchain technology. Several projects are currently underway to abstraction and acquaint blockchain technology.
For example, the R3 CEV Consortium, which comprises over 50 banking institutions, including top banks, like Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, and Commerzbank, is adventure one of the better efforts in this regard. However, in this instance, the R3 blockchain arrangement does not accommodate Bitcoin. Therefore, by accepting a Blockchain after Bitcoin, the R3 blockchain will exclude the aegis and abstracts believability provided by Bitcoin miners, as able-bodied as added analytical attributes like decentralization, security, and transparency.
What are your thoughts on the abstruse vulnerabilities of the IRS and banking institutions? Let us apperceive in the comments below!
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