32 Design principles for Self-Sovereign Identity

SSI is already the subject of serious academic research. The rapidly growing interest in the subject, particularly in Europe and the Nordic countries, has led to a number of groundbreaking academic studies. This chapter is based on a bachelor’s thesis written by Jasmin Huber, at the time a student in business administration at the University of Bayreuth in Germany (and now a master’s student at the Institute of Technology in Carlow, Ireland), and Johannes Sedlmeir, a researcher at Project Group Business and Information Systems at Fraunhofer FIT who is pursuing his PhD in information systems at the University of Bayreuth.

32.1 Introduction and Motivation

Self-sovereign identity (SSI) has advanced considerably in the last years, both regarding the available software, with a growing number and scope of open source repositories, but also regarding the awareness of SSI in the public and private sector. To explain the concept, the advantages, the caveats, and the challenges of SSI to researchers, practitioners, and potential users, it is essential to present an understandable and consistent definition of what constitutes SSI.

32.2 Methodology

32.3 Principle #1: Representation

32.4 Principle #2: Control

32.5 Principle #3: Flexibility

32.6 Principle #4: Security

32.7 Principle #5: Privacy

32.8 Principle #6: Verifiability

32.9 Principle #7: Authenticity

32.10 Principle #8: Reliability

32.11 Principle #9: Usability

32.12 Summary

32.13 References