Although it started in 2015, self-sovereign identity (SSI) as a technology, industry, and movement is still very young. Many people working directly in the digital identity industry are likely to be familiar with it, but to those working in other industries—especially outside of tech—it may be a brand-new concept.
Part 1 gives you everything you need to know to become conversant in SSI, no matter where you are coming from. It is organized into four chapters:
- Chapter 1 begins with the fundamental reasons we need digital identity and why the first two generations of solutions (centralized identity and federated identity) have not solved the problem. It explains the origins of SSI as a new internet identity model based on blockchain, cloud, and mobile computing technology and paints a picture of the impact SSI is already having in e-commerce, finance, healthcare, and travel.
- Chapter 2 introduces the seven basic building blocks of SSI—including digital credentials, digital wallets, digital agents, and blockchains—at a level that should be comfortable for non-technologists.
- Chapter 3 takes the seven building blocks from Chapter 2 and shows how they can be put together to solve different scenarios in digital trust.
- Chapter 4 introduces the SSI Scorecard as a tool for systematically evaluating the major features and benefits of SSI (a tool we use again in part 4 to evaluate the impact of SSI on various industries and market verticals).