The History of Digital Identity
The digital depiction of an individual, organization, or item in the internet world is referred to as a digital identity. On the internet, it is a collection of data and qualities that uniquely identify and differentiate a person or thing. This identification can contain a username, email address, biometric data, social media accounts, and other information. With the rise of the internet and the proliferation of online services, the notion of digital identity has evolved as the world progressively moved toward the digital era. In the early days of the internet, digital identification was frequently as easy as a username and password combination to access certain online services. As online behaviors became more complicated and prevalent, a more robust and secure system of digital identity management became necessary.
In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:
- The fundamentals and evolution of digital identity
- Institutional databases and access control lists
- Public key cryptography
- Introduction to blockchain-based identity management
