Distributed identity issuers and verifiers
When it comes to using blockchain technology for IdM, it’s important to recognize that three different parties are involved:
- Individuals who own the identity
- Identity issuers
- Identity verifiers
The entity functioning as the identity issuer, which is often a trusted authority such as local government, has the capacity to offer or confer personal credentials to the identity owner, also known as the user. Through the issuing of a credential, the identity issuer certifies the legitimacy of the personal information contained in that credential, such as the date of birth and last name. Subsequently, the identity owner can save these credentials in their personal identity wallet and use them later to back up assertions about their identity to a third party, known as the verifier.
An issuer holder and verifier relationship can be visualized as follows:
Figure 11.2 – Verifiable credentials...