Microsoft announced that it plans on using blockchain technology to store and manage digital identities.
In an official blog post Microsoft said that it will integrate blockchain-based decentralized IDs (DIDs) into its Microsoft Authenticator app (used be millions of people).
A blockchain is a link of records (blocks) that is forever expanding. It is ultra-secure and efficient.
Distributed ledger technology is a digital system for recording asset transactions. Each transaction data is recorded in multiple places at the same time.
Microsoft said that the problem with the existing model is that it doesn’t give people control over their identity data as they must grant broad consent to countless apps and services for collection, use and retention beyond their control – leaving them exposed to data breaches.
Ankur Patel from Microsoft’s Identity Division said:
“After examining decentralized storage systems, consensus protocols, blockchains, and a variety of emerging standards we believe blockchain technology and protocols are well suited for enabling Decentralized IDs (DID).”
“Some public blockchains (Bitcoin [BTC], Ethereum, Litecoin, to name a select few) provide a solid foundation for rooting DIDs, recording DPKI operations, and anchoring attestations.”
Last month Microsoft joined the ID2020 alliance, a global public-private partnership dedicated to aiding the 1.1 billion people around the world who lack any legal form of identity.
Microsoft and its partners are working on developing “an open source, self-sovereign, blockchain-based identity system that allows people, products, apps and services to interoperate across blockchains, cloud providers and organizations.”
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