Spanish group gets green light for non-blockchain self-sovereign ID research project

The Spanish private capital group GMV’s project to develop a self-sovereign identity (SSI) built on a blockchain alternative has been approved by the Strategic Initiative for Innovative Public Procurement (IECPI) of Spain’s National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE).

According to a release, the Luís Valle R&D&I program’s focus on SSI aims to address blockchain’s significant energy drain and limited scalability by leveraging a public key cryptosystem known as identity-based cryptography (IBC), augmented with identity-based encryption (IBE).

Rather than bypassing central ID issuing authorities by using blockchain to store the relationship between randomly generated private and public keys, IBC provides the opportunity for a public key to be selected. A private key generator (PKG) then creates the corresponding private key; in cases wherein biometric identity is used as a public key, the equation is such that a blockchain-based link is not required.

The company says its SSI research will advance a technology that allows users to own, manage and control their digital identity by deciding how and when to share their personal data on a case-by-case basis. Applicable in financial transactions, healthcare, government services and other sectors adopting digital identity verification, the tech aims to minimize the risk of fraud and data theft via third parties.

Also approved as part of the Luís Valle R&D&I program is the development of a security operations center for the space industry, for mitigating security risks for satellites. GMV specializes in space, aeronautics, digital public services, and intelligent transportation systems, among other industries.

Article Topics

blockchain  |  digital identity  |  identity verification  |  self-sovereign identity  |  Spain