Self Sovereign Identity

SECURE & TRUSTED WAY OF SHARING CLAIMSA new way to share data in verifiable form

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Inspiration -

Since the inception in 2018, Blockster Labs has been researching on Blockchain based self-sovereign identity (SSI) technology. As a result of this rigorous research, it was an obvious conclusion that SSI has numerous benefits for both businesses and individuals. Various features of SSI solutions and evolving frameworks were compared later in the project. In this regard, we chose the Hyperledger frameworks Indy and Aries, which are the core projects specifically focused on decentralised identity.

What it does -

Digital identities that are handled in decentralised manner are known as self-sovereign identities (SSI). Users can self-manage their digital identities with this technology, rather than relying on third-party services to store and handle their data. Self Sovereign Identity envisions the individuals at the core controlling everything related to their identity in a digital, secure wallet that contains verifiable claims related to her, like various accolades, achievements (education, employment, etc.), passport, … Just like in a normal wallet! Each verifiable claim related to the individual is digitally signed and can cryptographically prove to any verifier:

  1. Who is the issuer (e.g. the University issuing the Diploma);
  2. To whom it was issued (e.g. the individual);
  3. Whether or not it has been altered since it was issued;
  4. Its validity.

How we built it -

The Blockster Labs team is working hard to deliver the building blocks of a self-managed identity, allowing users to gain control over their identity data. Our product CREDEBL (more details) provides a unique value proposition that demonstrates how our self-sovereign approach and technical solution to digital identity management can provide significant benefit to participants during interactions with one another in an ecosystem.

Challenges we ran into -

Building an SSI system presents a numerous challenges mainly due to the rapidly evolving standards, tech stack and changing business scenarios. While developing our solution, we faced a unique set of challenges. Some of these are -

  1. Limited Resources: When we started with the development, there were very limited resources to learn the technology. Moreover, the overall stack was in its non-production state.
  2. Lack of Documentation: Open-source libraries for Mobile Identity Wallet were not easy to be integrated, especially on the iOS devices.
  3. Incomplete Stack for Production Usage: There were no libraries or frameworks available to provision mediation for messaging between Aries Cloud Agent and Mobile Wallet.

Accomplishments that we're proud of -

While on one hand, when the world is facing a major problem in the shape of an ever ongoing pandemic, we, on the other hand are laser focused on devising solutions to the problems of our global clients to use SSI technology as an Immunity Passport or Vaccine Credential Passport and participate in numerous initiatives such as Global Health Pass. I am proud of our unwavering dedication to achieving greater heights in the future.

What we learned -

We have learned that there is lot of enthusiasm for SSI. To achieve real-world adoption, we must place even more emphasis on the UI and UX aspects of our products. Concerns about usability and convenience will necessitate that both public and private sector actors prioritise the user experience in all SSI applications.

What's next for Self Sovereign Identity -

SSI holds a bright future when it comes in enhancing privacy so that data breaches can be minimised. As the world is realising necessity for Data Security, Data Privacy and Consent based Data Sharing, there is a need for such guiding framework like SSI which can expedite bringing various Data Privacy regulations such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation, Europe), CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), PDP (Personal Data Protection Bill, India).

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