Agent-Based Digital Identity: Proof-of-Concept Prototype Description and Demonstration
At PNSQC 2024, I presented an agent-based architecture wherein identity agents installed on personal devices enable owners to create digital identities to identify themselves, elevate assurances, secure transactions, protect private data, delegate consent, and notarize documents. Digital identities are self-sovereign, cryptographically enabled, and virtualized for ease-of-use significantly reducing password dependency. This paper demonstrates a proof-of-concept prototype illustrating the principal features and benefits of the architecture. This effort has been influenced by commercialization objectives to leverage available skill-sets and technologies, particularly those capable of deploying software across popular personal devices.
The most appropriate cross-platform development framework appears to be React Native which exploits HTML and JavaScript to create interactive components that can be installed on mobile platforms (e.g. Android and iOS smart phones and tablets). Hence, the proof-of-concept prototype has been implemented in HTML and JavaScript. Demonstrated capabilities include identity agent owners creating private (sovereign) copies of digital identities they control; owners exchanging public copies of digital identities; using proof-of-existence to verify exchanged digital identities; employing the Diffie-Hellman protocol to securely exchange public copies of digital identities; and using digital identities to sign and encrypt exchanged messages
Kalman Toth
Kal Toth has published numerous conference and journal papers and four US patents in the field of digital identity. Most recently, he has been developing a proof-of-concept prototype implementing features of the digital identity architecture addressed in this paper. He also provides technical expertise to law offices relating to BitTorrent and copyright infringement. Kal has assumed leadership positions with Hughes Aircraft of Canada, Datalink Systems Corp., CGI Group Inc., the Software Productivity Centre of British Columbia, and Intellitech Canada Ltd. (Ottawa), and has provided consulting services to various Canadian federal departments including Defence, Communications, Transportation, Revenue and Taxation, the National Research Council, and the Canadian Communications Security Establishment. Appointed Associate Professor at the Technical University of British Columbia, Oregon State University, and Portland State University, Kal developed, delivered and managed software engineer courses for WestMOST (in Canada) and the Oregon Master of Software Engineering (OMSE) program (in the USA). He obtained his Ph.D. in computer systems and electrical engineering from Carleton University and is a registered professional engineer with a software engineering designation in British Columbia.