A Systematic Review of Blockchain-based Identity Management Solutions

Abstract

The involvement of digital identity in almost all online services contributes to the growing reliance on Identity Management Systems (IDMS) that establish, verify, and manage digital identities. However, digital identities are still kept in central repositories. Which are controlled by a single authority that may have many vulnerabilities due to low security, leading attackers to exploit these vulnerabilities and causing various security breaches such as identity theft or disclosure of sensitive information. Additionally, powerful entities who have access to these repositories, could gather and abuse users' information without their knowledge or consent. The concept of Self-sovereign Identity (SSI) allows users to exert ownership of their identity and gain insight into how their data is being used. The development of Blockchain technology has made a breakthrough in achieving SSI by giving individuals the ability to be the final arbiter of who can access and use their own identity. This paper overviews the traditional identity management (IdM) models and presents the next generation of distributed IDMS using Blockchain technology that targets user-centricity and eliminates the identity provider as a trusted third party. Furthermore, It gives an analysis of the recent Blockchain-based IdM solutions, discussing their architecture, components, and features. It also, reveals their weaknesses to identify the gaps between these solutions for future secure IDMS.