How to Build an Organization With Advanced Identity and Access Management in the Web 3.0 World

Today’s companies have central data storage infrastructure, and while this approach is beneficial for easy data management, it is somewhat problematic because the security foundation can come apart from a single failure point. Our current identity and access management landscape is chaotic.

QAs we become more connected and things become more digitized, our identities become more susceptible to identity theft, spamming, and more. These are happening because these attacks happen behind the scenes, where no one can see them.

Web 3.0 is not immune to this—in fact, it’s starting to set the pace for how malicious actors will carry out these attacks in the future due to the vulnerability of integrated data. However, you can future-proof your organization by equipping your systems with Web 3-native advanced identity and access management infrastructure.

How Does a Web 3-native Identity Management Work?

In the Web 3.0 world, traditional IAM software would be replaced by distributed ledger technologies (DLT), otherwise known as the blockchain. The decentralized architecture of such systems ensures that there is no single point of failure since identity authentication and verification would be performed across the network rather than from a central authority.

As described by the World Wide Web Consortium, the blockchain, in this case, functions as a verifiable data registry, a source of truth that attests to the validity of the data contained within a credential while keeping the data itself protected and secure.

With decentralized identity management, the personal data itself does not go on the blockchain because this leads to obvious problems. Data on the blockchain is immutable, and this is not compatible with access management where identity attributes are dynamic.

Therefore, criticizing blockchain-based identity management as inefficient personal data storage is moot. What is stored on the blockchain are public decentralized identifiers(DIDs), which are actually self-sovereign keys for verifying digital identities and do not themselves contain personal information.

The blockchain system also stores credential definitions, proof of consent for data sharing, schemas, and so on, all of which attest to a verified credential.

In this way, identity authentication moves from a zero-trust approach to zero-knowledge proof. The zero-knowledge proof allows two parties to prove their access requirements without supplying the actual personal information supporting the verification.

This conviction model, despite zero-knowledge, is enabled through advanced cryptography, not unlike our current encryption models.

Digital identity credentials are tied to the devices on which they are stored. Therefore, possessing an authorized person’s password is not enough for a hacker to breach access.

What if the person’s device was stolen? In that case, that device authorization can be immediately revoked, and that would take effect throughout the blockchain to ensure that a hacker cannot fraud their way to illegal access.

3 Ways to Strengthen your Organization’s IAM Infrastructure

1. Private Blockchain/BaaS

Organizations in the Web 3.0 will need to be more agile, flexible, and efficient than they are now. To advance their business goals, they need secure and compliant identity solutions that are simple to deploy, manage, and integrate with enterprise applications.

The private blockchain or Blockchain-as-a-Servicemodel allows organizations to create their own blockchain infrastructure, managing identity and providing access to resources more securely.

The growing popularity of blockchain and the emergence of decentralized applications have necessitated an overhaul of the traditional identity management system, which is usually built around centralized databases. This challenge is non-existent when discussing network communication models like OSI.

What is OSI model? It is used to describe a networking system, and it has been instrumental in cloud computing. That kind of framework is, in fact, necessary for facilitating multi-blockchain communications.

2. Integrate IAM into the Business Process

In Web 2.0, identity and access management (IAM) is an administrative job, ensuring that the right users get the proper privileges for accessing information most appropriately. In Web 3.0, IAM has become a business process.

It involves managing identities and facilitating secure transactions between parties that don't necessarily trust each other. As a result, IAM solutions have to be radically redesigned to support this new paradigm cost-effectively.

3. Password protection using hashing

One of the best ways to protect passwords is by using cryptographic hashingto store them securely in the database. Storing hashed versions of passwords in your database enables you to use more secure methods when validating user credentials during authentication processes and transactions.

For example, suppose you are using plain-text passwords in your database. In that case, you might be vulnerable to hackers that try just entering common dictionary words into login forms, which can easily give them access to accounts. However, when you have a hashed version of passwords stored in the database, hackers will have a much harder time guessing a user's password because they would have to go through an expensive brute-force attack on all possible combinations until they find the correct one.

Conclusion

The identity and access management (IAM) infrastructure of Web 2.0 is not sufficient for the next generation of decentralized applications. The current centralized IAM model is not scalable for Web 3.0, which will require an advanced decentralized IAM infrastructure that can support millions of users in a blockchain network.

The technology industry is currently experiencing the most radical transformation since the dot-com era. In many ways, it's better: the internet is faster and more secure than ever before.