Developing Blockchain-Based Identity Applications

Data breaches. Identity theft. We read about these Internet issues all the time. Any identity data available online can be subject to theft. Simply put, the Internet is broken and it needs to be fixed.

Traditional identity management approaches are failing. A new approach to identity management is needed to ensure tamper-proof transactions and infrastructures. Enter the world of blockchain-based identity management. Hyperledger Aries, Indy and Ursa provide a foundation for distributed applications built on authentic data using a distributed ledger, purpose-built for decentralized identity. Together, they provide tools, libraries, and reusable components for creating and using independent digital identities rooted on blockchains or other distributed ledgers so that they are interoperable across administrative domains, applications, and any other “silo.”

This program is geared towards learners with a technical background interested in developing identity-focused blockchain solutions to enhance user privacy. Learners will start by exploring the possibilities offered by Hyperledger Indy, Aries and Ursa for building applications on a solid digital foundation of trust and examine how these open source technologies can make the Internet safer and increase user privacy by only disclosing specific information as and when needed and authorized. They will then do a deep-dive into Hyperledger Aries, learning to create production-ready applications by developing code for issuing and verifying credentials with their own Aries agent.

What you'll learn

• Understand the problems with existing Internet identity/trust mechanisms today and learn how a distributed ledger, such as Hyperledger Indy, can be used for identity.
• Discuss the purpose, scope, and relationship between Aries, Indy, and Ursa and understand how these open source blockchain technologies provide reliable self-sovereign identity solutions that add a necessary layer of trust to the Internet.
• Understand the Aries architecture and its components, as well as the DIDComm protocol for peer-to-peer messages.
• Deploy instances of Aries agents and establish a connection between two or more Aries agents.
• Create from scratch or extend Aries agents to add business logic and understand the possibilities available through the implementation of Aries agents.