Research database

The Spoke is focused in the domains of cryptography and distributed system security. Within this general competence, the Spoke will devote the first years of life (corresponding to the lifetime of the present initiative) to develop a unifying project (called Secure and TRaceable Identities in Distributed Environments - STRIDE) aimed to study digital identification of entities in the cyberspace (both humans and objects) and their interactions. This is implemented by defining three research tracks: (1) Cryptographic mechanisms; (2) Blockchain and other distributed technologies; and (3) Evolutionary changes and challenges for secure digital identity. In the track of cryptography, from a foundational perspective, the research activity aims at developing new advanced cryptographic primitives of practical interest, also to implement functions of secret information related to digital entities, possibly making them publicly verifiable, as often required by applications in the areas of distributed systems and blockchain-related applications. Moreover, cryptographic protocols play a crucial role when digital entities, possibly distrustful, have to interact in the distributed environment. Special attention will be devoted to post-quantum cryptography, to define the building blocks for authentication and digital identity systems of the new era. Blockchain and distributed ledger techniques are seen in the aim of the Spoke as a disrupting technology when entities of the cyberspace and their interactions must be securely identified, traced, and made accountable. According to this view, the Spoke will operate by following two lines. The first one is to study the security of the different components of the DLT domain, also focusing on security-aware DLT-based design and deployment, security design and verifications of smart contracts and applications interacting with off-chain information and cross-blockchain, security of tokenization for digital identification and tracing. The second is to study advanced DLT-based paradigms and applications, including the Self-Sovereign approach. Finally, the Spoke will study design and security testing of next generation digital identity management solutions. Automated techniques will be studied for the risk evaluation in identification, authentication, and authorization processes for both users and devices, to find the best trade-off among usability, security, and privacy. Moreover, challenging models and techniques for secure and traceable digital identity including the issue of identifying objects, advanced forms of identity management (possibly trust-based), and methods and mechanisms to achieve anonymous identity will be designed. The presence of the industrial partners in the Spoke will allow the latter to experiment with innovative solutions.