On Using Blockchain and NoSQL at the German Federal Printing Office. Interview with Ilya Komarov
“Bundesdruckerei has transformed itself from a traditional manufacturer of official documents such as passports and ID cards to one of the leading companies for security solutions, also in the digital sector.”–Ilya Komarov
I have interviewed Ilya Komarov, researcher at the German Federal Printing Office (“Bundesdruckerei“). We talked about how they use Blockchain and a NoSQL database – Cortex -for their identity and rights management system, FIDES.
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Q1. The “Bundesdruckerei” (Federal Printing Office), a German public company, is since 1951, the manufacturer of banknotes, stamps, identity cards, passports, visas, driving licences, and vehicle registration certificates. What do you now?
Ilya Komarov: Bundesdruckerei has transformed itself from a traditional manufacturer of official documents such as passports and ID cards to one of the leading companies for security solutions, also in the digital sector. For the development of further, safety-relevant products, the innovation department now relies on the CortexDB platform.
Q2. Do you use blockchain technology? If yes, for what?
Ilya Komarov: Although Bundesdruckerei’s ID-Chain technology is based on the data integrity principle of a blockchain, it is adapted to the requirements of powerful and secure identity and rights management.
The difference to blockchain, however, is the bi-directional linking of the blocks as well as the generation of many individual chains rather than a single, increasingly longer chain. Unlike with blockchain, the chain links are connected to each other in both directions, i.e. a block hence knows the next block as well as its predecessor block.
This chain structure makes it possible to quickly check the integrity of the blocks and that of their respective neighbours in both directions and in detail, right down to the very last link. Functions from quantum-mechanical analytics rather than hash values are used as a security mechanism. This mechanism begins with the generation of an atomic wave function for each block in the chain. The blocks can then be idealized as atoms and described in quantum-mechanical terms.
In analogy to nature, these atoms can then join up with other atoms (blocks) to form molecules (blockchains).
By applying these principles, two blocks form unique molecular connections that are used as a security mechanism for the blocks and for the chain as a whole. The ID-Chains now offer the security of linked data structures combined with a high level of flexibility and performance.
Q3. What is Bundesdruckerei using CortexDB for?
Ilya Komarov: We are running the FIDES development project in cooperation with Cortex AG.
The user-centered identity and rights management system is based on a modified blockchain. It integrates Bundesdruckerei’s security functions into the core of the database. People, machines, processes and objects can be integrated into administration and companies of all industries. Legal requirements, such as the European Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), are implemented technologically.
The FIDES development project aims to develop an identity and rights management system in which the user alone has control over his data. Each authorization is stored in the form of a digital authorization blockchain and is inseparably linked to the identity of the data owner. Each blockchain represents a unique link between an authorization, the owner of the authorization, and a user identity. At any time it is possible to determine who accessed which data with which authorizations and when and where these authorizations come from.
Bundesdruckerei is using CortexDB as part of its revolutionary identity and rights management system FIDES where the user alone determines what happens with their data. This user-centric identity management system is based on derived blockchain and cognitive database technologies.
Identities and rights are managed in FIDES in the form of digital rights chains, so-called ID-Chains. An individual ID-Chain is created for each right owned by an identity. This means that the system is made up of millions of chains that have to be searched in a split second.
Within the scope of a development partnership, the NoSQL database from Cortex AG has been specially optimized to meet the requirements of FIDES.
Thanks to smart data normalization, this data can be accessed as fast as lightning without the need for time-consuming searches. As a supplier of high-security solutions, Bundesdruckerei was involved in the development process and integrated the security functions directly into the core of the database, for instance, for encryption and ID-Chain creation and validation.
Q4. What are the typical problems you encounter in ID Management Systems (IDMS) based on encrypted block chain technology?
Ilya Komarov: Blockchain is opening up a vast range of new possibilities, however, due to its technical limits it is not suitable for every situation. The ID-Chains take the principle of linked blocks and adapt it to the requirements of powerful and secure identity and rights management.
The biggest difference to the blockchain is the generation of many individual ID-Chains rather than one ever-longer chain. Each of these is a separate chain that can be easily saved or discontinued. This means, for instance, that individual chains can be marked as invalid, making it technically possible to implement the right to be forgotten. This is neither possible nor aimed for with conventional blockchains.
Q5. What are the lessons learned so far?
Ilya Komarov: FIDES is currently being used in proof-of-concept projects by our customers. The scope of application is wide: from small private businesses to large groups and public authorities.
Problem trials conducted at our customers show that many of the problems are related to identification and the possession of data.
As soon as the data owner has full control over the data, many privacy problems will become irrelevant. This is the case, for instance, with patient data in the field of healthcare or personal data in dealings with public authorities.
Access control systems as well as IoT devices also require secure administration of identity and rights.
Thanks to the flexibility of CortexDB and ID-Chains, FIDES has what it takes to solve these problems.
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Ilya Komarov
Ilya Komarov has been working at Bundesdruckerei’s research and development departments since 2008. His research subjects include identity management, security systems and big data. In 2017, he started to work on developing new blockchain technologies for the secure management of identities and authorisations.
Mr. Komarov received his degree in Computer Science at Humboldt University in Berlin.
Resources
– Bundesdruckerei under new leadership. Dr. Stefan Hofschen new CEO 6 February 2018
Related Posts
– The architecture of the CortexDB in comparison. Thomas Kalippke, Medium, June 13, 2018
– Analysing 1.4 Billion dataset with CortexDB. Q&A with Thomas Kalippke. ODBMS.org, 11 MAY, 2018
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