Self-Sovereign Identity in Semi-Permissioned Blockchain Networks Leveraging Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric

Abstract

Patients often have their healthcare data stored in centralized systems, leading to challenges when reconciling or consolidating their data across providers due to centralized databases that store patient identities. The challenges disrupt the flow of patient care where time is sensitive for both patients and providers. Decentralized technologies have enabled a new identity model–Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI)–that grants individuals the right to freely control, access, and share their own data. This work proposes a system that achieves SSI in a semi-permissioned blockchain network using an open protocol as the certificate of authority and several guidelines for securely handling transactions in the network. Open protocols like Keccak can grant access to a permission-based network such as Hyperledger Fabric. The network architecture ensures data security and privacy through mechanisms of multi-signature transactions and guidelines for storing transactions locally, making this architecture ideal for privacy-centered use cases, such as healthcare data-sharing applications. The ultimate goal is to give patients full control over their identity and other data derived from their identity within a semi-permissioned network.