A plurality of system nodes coupled via a dedicated private network is described herein. A user can access data stored in one or more system nodes if a multi-factor authentication is successful. The multi-factor authentication can include using the structure of a person's vein (or artery) as one of the factors used to determine whether to authenticate a user. The structure of a person's vein (or artery) can be captured using a vein reader coupled to or embedded within a user device. For example, the vein reader can be coupled to the user's smartphone or can be embedded within the user's smartphone. Once captured, the vein reader can encode the user's vein structure to produce a vein ID that can then be used for authentication purposes.