Decentralized Identity and Verifiable Credentials: Identity in control
In today’s hyperconnected world, our digital identities have become an essential part of our lives. From accessing online services to conducting financial transactions, we rely on our digital selves to navigate the vast digital landscape. However, the current centralized approach to identity management raises concerns about privacy, security, and control. Enter decentralized identity, a revolutionary concept that aims to empower individuals with ownership and sovereignty over their digital identities.
What is Decentralized Identity?
Decentralized identity, also known as self-sovereign identity (SSI), is an open-standards-based framework that allows individuals to manage, control, and share their digital identities without relying on centralized authorities. Instead of storing identity data on third-party servers, individuals hold their identity information in digital wallets, similar to cryptocurrency wallets. These wallets hold verifiable credentials, and cryptographically signed statements that attest to specific attributes or claims about an individual’s identity.
Why Do We Need Decentralized Identity?
The current centralized identity infrastructure suffers from several drawbacks:
- Privacy Concerns: Centralized identity platforms often collect vast amounts of personal data, which could be misused or exposed to security breaches.
- Limited Control: Individuals have little control over who can access and use their personal information.
- Interoperability Issues: Existing identity systems often lack compatibility, making it difficult to use the same identity across different platforms.
Decentralized identity addresses these challenges by putting individuals back in control of their personal information:
- Privacy: Individuals own their identity data and have the power to grant or deny access to specific information.
- Transparency: Verifiable credentials contain cryptographic proofs of their authenticity and integrity, ensuring trust and transparency.
- Interoperability: Decentralized identity protocols facilitate seamless data sharing across different platforms, promoting a more unified user experience.
Scenario: Secure Health Records with Decentralized Identity
Imagine you’re a patient who frequently visits different healthcare providers. Traditionally, each provider maintains its own centralized database of patient records. Sharing your medical history among providers can be cumbersome and raises concerns about the security and privacy of your sensitive health information.
Now, let’s apply decentralized identity to this scenario:
- Decentralized Identity Creation: You create a decentralized identity specifically for your health records. This identity is linked to your medical history but does not store the actual records.
- Healthcare Provider Interaction:
- Appointment Scheduling: When you schedule an appointment with a new healthcare provider, you provide your decentralized identity instead of filling out lengthy forms with personal information.
- Access Request: The healthcare provider requests access to your medical history from your decentralized identity platform.
3. Consent and Verification:
- Consent Control: Using your decentralized identity platform, you grant consent for the healthcare provider to access specific parts of your medical history.
- Verification: The decentralized identity platform verifies the request and your consent without revealing the actual health records.
4. Secure Access:
- Limited Access: The healthcare provider receives access to only the necessary information for your appointment, such as relevant medical conditions and allergies.
- Temporary Access: Access is granted for a limited time, ensuring that the provider can only retrieve information needed for the current interaction.
This decentralized identity approach offers several privacy-focused advantages:
- Selective Disclosure: You have control over which parts of your medical history are shared with each healthcare provider, preventing unnecessary exposure to sensitive information.
- Reduced Data Silos: Health records are not stored centrally but remain under your control. This reduces the risk of large-scale data breaches affecting multiple providers.
- Improved Trust: The decentralized identity platform, using cryptographic methods, ensures the integrity and authenticity of your health information, fostering trust between you and healthcare providers.
Scenario: Online Authentication
Imagine you want to access multiple online services like banking, healthcare, and social media. Traditionally, you’d need separate usernames and passwords for each service, and these credentials would be stored on centralized servers owned by the respective companies.
Now, let’s apply the decentralized identity concept. Instead of relying on a centralized authority to verify your identity, you have a decentralized identity that you control. This identity is represented by a DID, which is a set of cryptographic keys and a way to link them to relevant personal information.
Here’s how it works:
- Creation of Decentralized Identity: You create your decentralized identity using a decentralized identity platform. This platform issues you a unique DID and helps you associate it with your personal information.
- Authentication: When you want to access a service, you present your DID instead of a traditional username and password. The service then requests authentication from the decentralized identity platform.
- Verification: The decentralized identity platform verifies your identity using cryptographic methods without exposing your personal information. It confirms that you are who you claim to be without relying on a central authority.
- Access Granted: Once your identity is verified, the service grants you access. Importantly, this access is granted without the service storing your personal information; it only relies on the decentralized identity platform’s verification.
Verifiable Credentials (VC):
Verifiable Credentials are a digital representation of information that can be cryptographically verified. Unlike traditional credentials, such as physical ID cards or paper certificates, Verifiable Credentials are stored electronically, providing a secure and tamper-evident means of conveying information. They are built on the principles of privacy, security, and interoperability.
Key components of Verifiable Credentials:
- Issuer: The entity that creates and issues the Verifiable Credential.
- Subject: The individual or entity to whom the Verifiable Credential is issued.
- Verifier: The party that verifies the authenticity of the Verifiable Credential.
How Verifiable Credentials and Decentralized Identity Work Together:
- Issuance: The Issuer creates a Verifiable Credential containing information about the Subject. This information can include attributes like name, age, or credentials like degrees or certifications.
- Decentralized Identity: The Subject’s identity is managed through a Decentralized Identifier (DID), which is stored on a blockchain. The DID serves as a unique identifier for the individual.
- Linking Credentials to DIDs: Verifiable Credentials are linked to DIDs. This connection ensures that the credentials are associated with the decentralized identity and can be cryptographically verified.
- Verification: When the Subject presents their Verifiable Credential, the Verifier uses the information within the credential and the associated DID to verify its authenticity. This process is secure and eliminates the need for a centralized authority to confirm identity.
Real-Time Example:
Consider a scenario where an individual, let’s call him Alex, wants to prove his age to access a restricted online service. Alex possesses a Verifiable Credential issued by the government, containing his age information. His decentralized identity, stored on a blockchain, is linked to this credential.
When Alex attempts to access the online service, the service’s Verifier requests his age information. Alex presents his Verifiable Credential, and the Verifier, using the information within the credential and the associated DID, verifies that Alex is of the required age. This process is efficient, and secure, and does not involve revealing unnecessary personal information.
Verifiable Credentials and Decentralized Identity represent a paradigm shift in how we manage digital identities. By leveraging blockchain technology and cryptographic principles, this approach enhances security, privacy, and user control. The real-time example illustrates the practical application of these concepts, showcasing their potential to revolutionize digital identity verification in various domains. As we continue to navigate the digital landscape, the synergy between Verifiable Credentials and Decentralized Identity promises a more secure and user-centric future.
Originally posted in https://www.inclinedweb.com/2023/12/22/decentralized-identity-and-verifiable-credentials-identity-in-control/
Decentralized Identity and Verifiable Credentials : Identity in control was originally published in The Dark Side on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.