reclaimID: Secure, Self-Sovereign Identities Using Name Systems and Attribute-Based Encryption
Open accessAbstract
In this paper we present reclaimID: An architecture that allows users to reclaim their digital identities by securely sharing identity attributes without the need for a centralised service provider. We propose a design where user attributes are stored in and shared over a name system under user-owned namespaces. Attributes are encrypted using attribute-based encryption (ABE), allowing the user to selectively authorize and revoke access of requesting parties to subsets of his attributes. We present an implementation based on the decentralised GNU Name System (GNS) in combination with ciphertext-policy ABE using type-1 pairings. To show the practicality of our implementation, we carried out experimental evaluations of selected implementation aspects including attribute resolution performance. Finally, we show that our design can be used as a standard OpenID Connect Identity Provider allowing our implementation to be integrated into standard-compliant services.
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In some decentralized approaches, the central IdP is accompanied by decentralized storage, where validated attestations are stored on a distributed ledger for later validation, presenting the main differentiation.
“However, the central IdP is accompanied by decentralized storage, where validated attestations are stored on a distributed ledger for later validation, presenting main differentiation [10].”
From Decentralized and Self-Sovereign Identity: Systematic Mapping Study (2021) · cites this paper as [10]
Section II (p. 2) describes NameID as combining a central IdP with decentralized storage, and Related Work (p. 11) says its attributes are stored on the Namecoin blockchain. But Related Work explicitly says those attributes are self-issued, with no third party certifying them; the paper therefore does not support describing them as validated attestations. The paper also distinguishes NameID from its own reclaimID system, which has no central IdP (Introduction, p. 2). (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredDecentralized identity can be derived from existing government-issued identity documents and is provided by services performing identity proofing based on existing third-party trusted credentials, such as passports, driving licenses, etc.
“Decentralized identity can be derived from existing government-issued identity documents and is provided by services performing identity proofing based on ex-isting third-party trusted credentials, such as passports, driving licenses, etc.”
From Decentralized and Self-Sovereign Identity: Systematic Mapping Study (2021) · cites this paper as [10]
The Introduction (p. 2) describes reclaimID as a decentralised identity service. Security Goals and Threat Model (p. 3) says trusted third-party-issued attributes can be used, for example as X.509 certificates, but describes reclaimID's attributes as implicitly user-issued. It does not say identities are derived from government documents or provided by services that proof identities using passports or driving licences. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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- Authors
- Schanzenbach, M., Bramm, G., & Schutte, J.
- Affiliations
- Fraunhofer Institute for Applied and Integrated Security (DE)
- Venue
- 2018 17th IEEE International Conference On Trust, Security And Privacy In Computing And Communications/ 12th IEEE International Conference On Big Data Science And Engineering (TrustCom/BigDataSE)
- Publisher
- IEEE
- Published
- 2018-08
- Pages
- 946-957
- OpenAlex
- W2804641237
- Cited by
- 36
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 1.93
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- arxiv.org
- Locations
- IEEE International Conference on Trust, Security and Privacy in Computing and Communications (TrustCom) (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- Publikationsdatenbank der Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft) (submittedVersion)
- Fraunhofer-Publica (Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Cryptography and Data Security
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Networks and Communications › Advanced Authentication Protocols Security
- Keywords
- self-sovereign identity, digital identity, attribute-based encryption, ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption
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