Blockchain Technology and its Impact on Identity Management
Previously, digital identity management was/is still considered as the ho-hum task that not even service provider but also consumer were getting irritated of getting their identity verify for each new services they decide to acquire. Even bio-metrics, facial recognition, & voice recognition were not enough as all of these data were/are still stored in centralized server making it vulnerable to hackers. That’s where blockchain technology comes into play where consumers’ ID will be digitized on decentralized network and the new sector of Digital identity would be born.
In recent years, blockchain technology has literally had an hand in making the pie—well, who doesn’t like having a slice of pie? One of the sectors blockchain technology is currently disrupting is the identity management sector.
When you hear “digital identity”, what comes to mind? Online identity (also known as Internet Identity, IID) is a social identity established by a person on the Internet, through communication in online communities, social media networks and similar platforms. It’s basically a presentation of your Internet persona, which could be different – mind you – from your real-world identity.
Let’s break it down: for you to login to any social network, you would need to provide your username and password. Sometimes would need to verify your email address or upload a picture of yourself. Some even go as far as asking for your phone number, and other information relevant to you.
How about when you want to conduct transactions online, especially when you want to order some items from an online store? You would be required to provide credit card information, address for shipping the goods, and some other personal information.
These processes are required to enable them to verify who you are; that is, your identity will be captured and stored by these platforms on their various databases.
There’s a problem with this system, however. These companies and platforms which require the (online) identities of various individuals store the collected data on centralized servers.
It is a known fact that the servers which hold such sensitive information are like goldmines to cybercriminals, identity thieves, hackers etc. In fact, it’s now a trend for large corporations to be the subjects of malicious attacks. Recently, Equifax was a target for an hacking attempt which, sadly, was successful. Their servers were hacked, and the hacker(s) made away with a great deal of sensitive customer information worth huge sums of money. The hacking attempt was successful partly because the data was stored in central locations, as opposed to decentralized storage of data.
With the latter, stored data is shared among computers (called nodes) on the blockchain network. As a result, a computer only has bits of the whole data, and it would require the bits from other computers on the network to put the “jigsaw” together.
Another problem with online identity is that, unlike offline identity verification where someone can present their passport or driver’s license at a bar for instance, online identity is less verifiable.
Consider these questions: How do you know I am who I say I am online? How does Facebook know I’m uploading my real picture? How do credit agencies know those details belong to me? It would be very difficult to verify all these information.
Now, that is the main problem with the current identity management technology. However, that is set to change really soon, with the implementation of blockchain technology in the identity management industry.
For online identity to be safe, transparent and secure, information needs to be stored in a decentralized database. Blockchain technology offers everything needed for identity management to be a success.
Some blockchain experts engaged in discussions and gave their insight about identity at the recent Silicon Slopes Tech Summit 2018 (January 17-18, precisely) in Salt Lake City Utah. They came to the conclusion that blockchain technology will put a stop to the monopoly which has had a negative impact on the identity management industry. Big corporations use these data for unsolicited purposes and sometimes sell it off to advertising and marketing companies.
A few companies have proved to be the solution to this menace, and one such company that is at the forefront of implementing blockchain technology in the identity management industry is 1kosmos. 1kosmos is a next-generation company which utilizes blockchain technology to solve the problems of identity management. The goal of 1kosmos is to take the power from big corporations and put it back where it belongs—the user.
With its decentralized blockchain platform BlockID, identity management can now be safe, secure and efficient. BlockID gives you sovereignty over your identity. This implies that you’re the final deciding authority on how your identity is utilized, managed and stored online.
How Does BlockID Work?
BlockID allows users to store data relevant to their identity in a secure, digital identity vault on their own devices. With this setup, they can easily provide that data to people who need to access it for verification purposes.
The process of uploading your identity data is very simple on BlockID. You will be required to upload an image of your face, your license and passport into the BlockID app’s digital identity vault.
After you’ve done that, you’ll scan and store your fingerprint and record a voiceprint. In a matter of minutes, your identity will be verified to ensure it is truly you. After verification, your ID is protected by encryption, and stored securely on the blockchain. You can only access the stored data with your private key, which makes your identity data only available to you. You probably know this but your private key should be kept really safe—it is exactly what it’s named.
BlockID by 1kosmos has finally given the world a platform where digital identity is safe, transparent, and truly secure from those who would want to steal or tamper with it. The next time you hear about a large-scale hacking attempt, you’ll rest assured that your data and digital identity is safe on BlockID.
