An Overview of Decentralized Identity — Gen Digital, ICEV Committee Work Session
Summary
A presentation titled An Overview of Decentralized Identity, by Drummond Reed, Director of Trust Services at Gen Digital, for the ICEV Committee Work Session. It describes three eras of digital identity, centralized, federated and decentralized, and states that verifiable credentials are stored in the holder's own digital wallet and can be checked by a receiving party. It diagrams a trust triangle of issuer, holder and verifier and a governance diamond, with examples of a bank as issuer and as verifier. It lists examples of ecosystem governance for decentralized identity, including GLEIF vLEI and the EU Digital Identity Wallet.
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“An Overview of Decentralized Identity — Gen Digital, ICEV Committee Work Session.”
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An Overview of
Decentralized Identity
Why it is the key to restoring trust
on the Inte rne t
WA House of Representatives -
ICEV Committee Work Session
13 January 20 23
Drummond Re e d
Dire ctor of Trust Se rvice s, Ge n Digital
A little background
● Director of Trust Services, Gen Digital
● Formerly Chief Trust Officer, Evernym
● Co-Author, W3C Decentralized Identifiers (DID) Spec
● Co-Author, Self-Sovereign Identity (Manning, 20 21)
● Co-Founde r / Ste e ring Me mbe r, Trust ove r IP Foundation
● Chair, ToIP Gove rnance Stack WG
● 25+ ye ars in Inte rne t ide ntity, se curity, privacy, trust
● 20 + ye ars in ide ntity standards
You can re ach me at @drummondreed or
drummond.reed@gendigital.com
2
Blockchain Identity
Self-Sovereign Identity
Decentralized Identity
Decentralized Digital Trust
3
The three major eras of digital identity
Centralized Federated Decentralized
• X.500 • Decentralized
• SAML
• SSL Identifiers (DIDs)
• OpenID
• TLS • Verifiable
• OAuth
• HTTPS Credentials
• UMA
4
What is driving adoption? Headlines like these.
5
We already have a solution to this
…in the physical world
Pape r or plastic cre de ntials that are :
● Issue d from a truste d source
● Tampe r-re sistant
● Se cure
● Private
● Portable
● Re usable
● Standardize d
You hold the data (cre de ntial) and can show it to
anyone , anywhe re – on your te rms.
6
Decentralized identity takes this
same approach and makes it digital
Like your physical passport or driving license,
verifiable credentials are unde r your control, store d in
your own pe rsonal digital wallet , and can be shown to
anyone , anywhe re .
Once share d, the y can be imme diate ly ve rifie d by the
re ce iving party, who can che ck:
1. Who issue d the cre de ntial?
2. To whom was it issue d?
3. Has it be e n tampe re d with?
4. Has it be e n re voke d?
7
Decentralized identity is gaining major
momentum around the world
Bonifii (US) IATA (Global) EU Digital Wallet
Trusted Verifiable health Reusable identity
authentication and and travel records for all Europeans
secure messaging for global travel
for credit unions FCA (UK) NHS (UK)
Smarter KYC/AML Staff ‘passports’ for
for banks and streamlined access
fintechs control
8
How decentralized identity works:
The trust triangle
9
The trust triangle
Sign Holder Verify
Verifiable
Proof
Credential
Wallet
Trust
Issuer Verifier
✗ No integration
needed!
Write Read
Public Key
DID + other cryptographic metadata
Verifiable Data Registry (e.g., Blockchain)
10
Example: a bank can be an issuer
Member
Balance
Proof of Assets
Statement
Wallet
Trust
Bank ✗ No integration
needed! Lender
Public Key
DID + other cryptographic metadata
Verifiable Data Registry (e.g., Blockchain)
11
A bank can be a verifier
Member
Government Proof of age and
-issued ID address
Wallet
Trust
Gov’t ✗ No integration
needed! Bank
Public Key
DID + other cryptographic metadata
Verifiable Data Registry (e.g., Blockchain)
12
For some credentials, a bank will be both
Member
Member Proof of bank
Credential membership
Wallet
Trust
Bank ✗ No integration
needed! Bank
Public Key
DID + other cryptographic metadata
Verifiable Data Registry (e.g., Blockchain)
13
Verifiable credentials can deliver Privacy by Design
at Internet scale
● All communication channels Holder
are private and encrypted ,
using pairwise peer DIDs
Wallet
● All data is stored off -chain,
securely inside of the user’s
Trust
digital wallet Issuer Verifier
100% GDPR
● Fully GDPR compliant, with Off-Chain Compliant
consent-based data sharing
and data minimization through Public Key
DID + other cryptographic metadata
zero-knowledge proofs
Verifiable Data Registry (e.g., Blockchain)
14
How decentralized identity scales:
The governance diamond
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The governance diamond
Cardholder
Holder
Verifiable
Proof
Credential
Wallet
Trust
Bank Issuer Verifier Merchant
Trust
Publishes Framework
Governing (aka
Mastercard Authority Governance
Framework)
16
Defining a complete architecture for Internet-scale
digital trust that combines cryptographic assurance
at the machine layers with human accountability at
the business, legal, and social layers.
17
Examples of ecosystem governance for
decentralized identity & verifiable credentials
1. GLEIF vLEI (ve rifiable cre de ntials for LEI) Ecosyste m
Gove rnance Frame work
https://www.gle if.org/e n/vle i/introducing-the -ve rifiable -le i-vle i
2. EU Digital Ide ntity Walle t Re fe re nce Frame work
https://commission.e uropa.e u/strate gy-and-policy/prioritie s-20 19-
20 24/e urope -fit-digital-age /e urope an-digital-ide ntity_e n
3. Province of British Columbia Digital Trust Se rvice s
https://digital.gov.bc.ca/digital-trust/gove rnance -ove rvie w/
4. California Se nate Bill 786
https://le ginfo.le gislature .ca.gov/face s/billTe xtClie nt.xhtml?bill_id=20 21
20 220 SB786 19
If you’d like to learn more…
● Self-Sovereign Identity (Manning Publications, 2021):
https://www.manning.com/books/self-sovereign-identity
● Evernym webinar series:www.evernym.com/webinars/
● Blog post: The Three Pillars of SSI
● Blog post: A Gentle Introduction to Verifiable Credentials
● Trust over IP:www.trustoverip.org
● ToIP Governance Framework Specifications:
https://trustoverip.org/news/2022/02/01/the -toip-foundation-
releases-its-first-official-governance-specifications/
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Questions?
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