Blockchain & Money: Session 23: Digital ID, by M.I.T. Sloan School of Management with Professor Gary Gensler

Session 23: Digital ID

Overview: Readings and Study Questions; Identity; Identity and Access Management; State Projects; Identity & Blockchain Technology; Your MIT Blockchain Diploma; Conclusions.
Session 23: Study Questions
- What are the trade-offs of using blockchain technology for identity and access management (IAM)?
- What is self-sovereign identity? How might blockchain self-sovereign or digital identity applications be applicable within the financial sector?
- Will you ask for your MIT diploma digitally or on paper?

Session 23: Readings
- ‘Self-sovereign identity:Why blockchain?’, IBM.
- ‘Blockchain and Digital Identity–A Good Fit?’, Internet Society.
- ‘Can blockchain ease banks’ digital-identity concerns?’, -American Banker.
- ‘Blockchains and Digital Identity’, Toward Data Science.
- ‘Singapore Regulator, Banks Complete KYC Blockchain Prototype’, CCN.
- ‘Digital Diploma Debuts at MIT’, MIT News

What is Identity?

Concepts of Identity
- Attribute: Age, Address, Citizenship, Name
- Claim: “My name is…”
- Credential: i.e.–Passport
- Attestation: Third Party Validation of Claim

Identity and Access Management Systems
- Functions
  - Authentication
  - Authorization (Attribute Access Control Decisions)
- Parties
  - User
  - Service Provider
  - Identity Provider
  - Attribute Authority (Certificate Authorities, Corporate Directory Services, & Domain Name Registries)

Identity Management Challenges and ‘Pain Points’
- Privacy and Security
- Identity Theft and Forged Credentials
- Credentials–Physical Documents often with Images
- Updated Personal Identity Information (PII) for life changes
- Costs and Timeliness of Attestation
- Trade-Offs or Digital vs. Physical Credentials
- Centralization (Targets for Cyber Attacks, Jurisdictional Segmentation, Monopolistic Behavior, Censorship and Inclusion)

Large Data Breaches
- Adobe (2013)–152 million
- Ebay (2014)–145 million
- Equifax (2017)–143 million
- Facebook (2018)–50 million
- Friends Finder (2016)–412 million
- Marriott (2018)–500 million
- Quora (2018)–100 million
- Under Armour (2018)–150 million
- Yahoo (2013 & 2014)–3 billion and 500 million

State Identity Projects
- Estonia–e-identity–State Issued Digital Identity
  - Started 2002 with ID-cards
  - Run on X-Road software
- India–Aadhaar–National Identification System
  - 12 digit ID
  - Biometrics–fingerprint and iris scan

Self-Sovereign Identity
- People and Entities are in Control of their Identities
- Direct Access without Intermediaries
- Identity Transportable
- Identities Widely Usable (Interoperable)

IAM and Blockchain Technology?
- Benefits
  - Address Verification Costs and Fraud
  - Trace Provenance
- Challenges
  - Privacy e.g. Storing Personal Identifiable Information on Blockchain
  - Access Controls
  - Collective Action and Adoption

IAM Blockchain Technology Projects
- Bitnation–Decentralized Borderless Voluntary Nation
- Civic Secure Identity–ICO for Secure Identity Platform
- Cambridge Blockchain LLC–Identity Compliance Solutions
- Democracy Earth Foundation–Promoting Inclusion through Distributed ID
- Distributed Identity Foundation–Standard Setting for Distributed IAM
- Existence ID–ICO for Secure Identity
- The Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore–KYC project
- Rebooting Web-of-Trust–Events for Decentralized Identity Systems
- SecureKey–Permissioned Consumer ID Network
- Sovrin Foundation–ICO for Self Sovereign Identity
- Spring Labs–Identity and Credit Related Data Security

Biblio:

Gary Gensler. 15.S12 Blockchain and Money. Fall 2018. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare, https://ocw.mit.edu. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.
Video Link: Session 23: Digital ID.
Slides Link: Session 23: Digital ID, Slides.