How much of your job can you do without having access to unencrypted data? For example, in the marketing research space, there are vendors for survey respondents, reporting tools and survey platforms that operate as intermediaries between the consumer/research participant and the research organization (a brand or agency). This service can actually be provided without having direct access to any unencrypted data, and without drawing from a centralized database. This is analogous to apps like WhatsApp where end-to-end encryption is utilized to ensure secure communication. Any entity that potentially handles any sensitive data, including user and health data, can benefit from employing these techniques to ensure data is protected and unnecessary liability is avoided. Fortunately, along with the interest in blockchain and bitcoin technologies, we’ve seen considerable advancement in cryptographic techniques which enable new opportunities for secure communication.