Self-Sovereign Identity
Digital identity is our representation in the digital world. Along with the evolution of the internet, the conception of identity has also evolved through time. Nowadays, presenting our identity while exploring web services usually requires more than a username-password pair, such as additional personal data or the association with a social media accounts. That's where the problem emerges, because, for average users, much of their information is floating everywhere, publicly displayed on social media and search engines, or exposed to hackers through unsecured databases.
Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) is the next step in the evolution of identity models to bring the full authority of digital identity back into users' hands. That means users can control their personal data, and only they can possess the right to prove who they are.
User data is securely stored on their personal devices or client encryption storage, together with their digital signature, ensuring no one can impersonate them to access permissioned services. With this approach, users are at the center of the identity solutions and can present and verify themselves easily and safely. With no more managing multiple passwords or depending on the data silos of big tech companies, the user experience can be seamless without trade-offs in privacy and security.
Another important feature in SSI models is the common usage of blockchain ledgers as the data layer. In this way, peer-to-peer interactions are enabled to enhance users’ privacy and independence from any centralized organization. With the rising of decentralized applications and platforms, bringing SSI into the field is expected to be a key factor for them to become mainstream and achieve mass adoption.
Last modified 1mo ago