The Changing Landscape of Identity and Access Management with Blockchain-Based Self-Sovereign Identity

Abstract

Identity management solutions are widely used in real-world applications and are intended to simplify activities such as managing and authenticating digital identities. As public online presence grows and transactions take place around the world, it becomes important to identify and validate digital identities. In addition, larger organizations are collecting more and more personally identifiable information, leaving databases open to malicious intruders and untrusted individuals. The scenario of identity management is now changing with decentralized identity management solutions using blockchain technology which place the complete control of the user’s data with him/herself. Self-sovereign identity (SSI) management is a popular application for blockchain technology. During the six months that this investigation was conducted, several major attacks were carried out against companies that process large amounts of personal data. Equifax has lost over 140 million customer records, including blockchain identity management, digital identities, and self-governed identities. The SSI as a novelty in the identity management landscape is made possible with blockchain. It has been created for the ease of use, and anyone can understand and use the concept of self-sovereign identity. SSI can solve a variety of issues such as privacy, scalability, flexibility, proximity, and consent. This research paper attempts to answer the following research question. Is blockchain useful in IAM with SSI? The authors seek the answer in a survey of some key enabling technologies including IAM’s security, prevention, digital identity, decentralization, and blockchain technologies.