With digitization enabling the creation of handy, authenticatable identities, the necessity to ensure that sensitive information remains private has become absolutely necessary. Identity management, one of the crucial aspects of digital identity, is the technology based on which someone is granted or denied access to organizational services or systems.
Introduction
Having a record of yourself, what you look like, qualities unique to you, the qualifications you possess, and traits that distinguish you from others is an essential part of the digital economy we currently live in.
Today, digital identification is preferred over traditional identification methods for innumerable reasons, ranging from easy accessibility to all online services, streamlined processes, and accuracy, to superior protection of privacy.
With digitization enabling the creation of handy, authenticatable identities, the necessity to ensure that sensitive information remains private has become absolutely necessary. Identity management, one of the crucial aspects of digital identity, is the technology based on which someone is granted or denied access to organizational services or systems.
How Does Blockchain Technology Support Identity Management?
With the arrival of blockchain technology, we have been made familiar with decentralized identification systems. These help us to manage our identity independently, with zero dependence on any centralized agency.
Considering the fact that maintaining digital identity is subject to hindrances such as identity theft, and maintaining a confusing collection of usernames and passwords to access different online services, it poses a general difficulty to manage.
With blockchain technology, we can create identity management systems that are protected, encrypted, and user-friendly.
The basic idea is that sensitive identity-related data is saved directly onto a tamper-proof blockchain system which is always accessible exclusively to the owner online.
Alternatively, third parties could be provided with access to the blockchain with data relating to the owners’ identity which would do away with the necessity to keep this data stored anywhere else.
Some Use Cases of the Blockchain Identity System
The scope of blockchain utilization for identity management is slowly unfolding; offerings related to the technology continue to develop and manifest:
- Self-Sovereign Identity- Conventional systems related to identity management have always been messy, convoluted, and prone to misuse. Utilizing the blockchain system of Self-Sovereign Identity gives owners absolute control over their digital identity, eliminating involvement from intermediaries. For this purpose, trustless, portable blockchain-based structures are already in use.
- Generating permanent identity records- Information contained within a blockchain cannot be altered or tampered with, without disrupting the entire chain. Records created utilizing this technology are permanent, immutable, and absolutely protected.
- Identity management for IoT systems- Identity management for IoT devices involves ensuring secure, accountable, and verifiable transactions for interactions involving IoT-to-Users and IoT-to-IoT. Currently, projects based on blockchain are employed to ensure secure IoT transactions.
- Smart contracts- The concept of decentralized, shared ledger systems, formulated utilizing blockchain technology could be used to fabricate identity-enabled self-executing smart contracts.
- Other applications- Identity verification while immigrating to another country, making online purchases, undergoing legal processes, applying for a loan, or background verification processes could be enacted utilizing this technology.
Benefits of Blockchain-Based Identity Management
Let us take a closer look at some of the benefits of blockchain-based identity management for users and businesses:
- Trustlessness- In a distributed ledger system, decentralization is ensured, which entails that owners no longer have to place their faith in any third party.
- Safety- Since all the information stored in a blockchain is encrypted and tamper-proof, the identity details remain secure, and accessible to only the owner.
- Elimination of dependency on paper-based identity management- The creation and storage of identity on blockchains mean that you never have to go through the process of applying for a duplicate if the need ever arises, saving your time and resources in the process.
- ID verification simplified- The automation of processes initiated by this technology does away with cumbersome manual checks, streamlining processes for everyone involved.
- Great user experience- Uploading digital identity onto a distributed ledger is a breeze, with the entire process being as uncomplicated as installing an app and entering identity-related proof and information.
- Transparent while being private- People involved in the blockchain system can track down details of transactions made, while privacy for everyone is made certain.
- Uniqueness ensured- On the blockchain system, owners receive a unique ID number that is permanent, incorruptible, and can be used to efficiently validate themselves.
Overview
Blockchain, the technology previously associated almost exclusively with cryptocurrency, has evolved into a comprehensive framework that is being implemented in different industry sectors. As a still developing technology, blockchain is not completely impervious to contamination in that counterfeit data can still be verified, for example.
Yet, it is still regarded as a secure and reliable solution for issues related to identity management. Utilizing blockchain technology along with artificial intelligence for identity verification ensures accuracy, privacy, transparency, and anonymity.
