4 ms·

What happens when your "identity wallet" gets stolen?

by skwirl 11y ago

vacri 11y ago
What happens when this method meets the general public, huge numbers of which consistently lose things, or fail to understand basic security measures (sometimes wilfully)? Any system based on "so, you have this physical|virtual thing, right..." is going to run into troubles when it meets the general public.
- jsmthrowaway 11y ago
  > Any system based on "so, you have this physical|virtual thing, right..." is going to run into troubles when it meets the general public. ...like driver's licenses, national ID cards (some smart), CACs, credit cards, keys, and smartphones?
  - ams6110 11y ago
    People understand ID cards and phones. Once it gets into things like passphrases, keys, salts, etc. 98% are lost. I work with students (some are Ph.D. candidates) in computer science who can't keep public/private SSH key pairs straight.
  - vacri 11y ago
    Did you notice that the GP was suggesting to do away with all of those things and replace it with a single doohickey? People lose each of the things you list every day. They can generally prove who they are to the relevant vendor with the other things they haven't lost yet. How do you do that with a single doohickey? And, as ams6110 mentioned, none of the things in your list require anything like 2FA - perhaps a PIN code on the bank card, but that's it. And those codes are generally four numeric digits. That's the level you need to pitch at for 'general public' consumption.
natrius 11y ago
"You pick eight entities; they may be your friends, your employer, some corporation, nonprofit or even in the future a government, and if anything goes wrong a combination of five of them can recover your key. This concept of social multi-signature backup is perhaps one of the most powerful mechanisms to use in any kind of decentralized system design, and provides a very high amount of security very cheaply and without relying on centralized trust." https://blog.ethereum.org/2015/04/13/visions-part-1-the-value-of-blockchain-technology/ https://blog.ethereum.org/2015/04/13/visions-part-1-the-valu... If you're not paying attention to Ethereum, you're missing out on the biggest story in technology ever. They're building systems that combine cryptographic identities and a global tamper-proof execution environment to bring the costs of interacting with any stranger on the planet to nearly zero. Every large organization on the planet (i.e. companies and governments) formed as a reaction to today's levels of transaction costs. Eliminating those transaction costs will reshape our society in ways that increase liberty and wealth. You can build the software that helps make that happen. My email's in my profile for anyone who wants help getting started or learning more.
- SixSigma 11y ago
  I don't have 8 entities I can rely on to be contactable.
dpcan 11y ago
Since this is something that is encrypted and can be backed up, you could have a second, third, fourth, as many as you want. You can leave your "wallet" with anyone, and it would be safe. I guess the trick is keeping them synced up, but really, there are a few things that never change, and you can update it again with the things that do.

What happens when your "identity wallet" gets stolen?

by skwirl 11y ago

What happens when your "identity wallet" gets stolen?

vacri 11y ago

What happens when this method meets the general public, huge numbers of which consistently lose things, or fail to understand basic security measures (sometimes wilfully)? Any system based on "so, you have this physical|virtual thing, right..." is going to run into troubles when it meets the general public.

jsmthrowaway 11y ago
> Any system based on "so, you have this physical|virtual thing, right..." is going to run into troubles when it meets the general public. ...like driver's licenses, national ID cards (some smart), CACs, credit cards, keys, and smartphones?
- ams6110 11y ago
  People understand ID cards and phones. Once it gets into things like passphrases, keys, salts, etc. 98% are lost. I work with students (some are Ph.D. candidates) in computer science who can't keep public/private SSH key pairs straight.
- vacri 11y ago
  Did you notice that the GP was suggesting to do away with all of those things and replace it with a single doohickey? People lose each of the things you list every day. They can generally prove who they are to the relevant vendor with the other things they haven't lost yet. How do you do that with a single doohickey? And, as ams6110 mentioned, none of the things in your list require anything like 2FA - perhaps a PIN code on the bank card, but that's it. And those codes are generally four numeric digits. That's the level you need to pitch at for 'general public' consumption.

natrius 11y ago

"You pick eight entities; they may be your friends, your employer, some corporation, nonprofit or even in the future a government, and if anything goes wrong a combination of five of them can recover your key. This concept of social multi-signature backup is perhaps one of the most powerful mechanisms to use in any kind of decentralized system design, and provides a very high amount of security very cheaply and without relying on centralized trust." https://blog.ethereum.org/2015/04/13/visions-part-1-the-value-of-blockchain-technology/ https://blog.ethereum.org/2015/04/13/visions-part-1-the-valu... If you're not paying attention to Ethereum, you're missing out on the biggest story in technology ever. They're building systems that combine cryptographic identities and a global tamper-proof execution environment to bring the costs of interacting with any stranger on the planet to nearly zero. Every large organization on the planet (i.e. companies and governments) formed as a reaction to today's levels of transaction costs. Eliminating those transaction costs will reshape our society in ways that increase liberty and wealth. You can build the software that helps make that happen. My email's in my profile for anyone who wants help getting started or learning more.

SixSigma 11y ago
I don't have 8 entities I can rely on to be contactable.

dpcan 11y ago

Since this is something that is encrypted and can be backed up, you could have a second, third, fourth, as many as you want. You can leave your "wallet" with anyone, and it would be safe. I guess the trick is keeping them synced up, but really, there are a few things that never change, and you can update it again with the things that do.