The technical work in the project can be divided into three tracks, which we briefly summarize in the following. Track I was focusing on collecting requirements and identifying gaps in existing technologies; Track II focused on closing these gaps, and designing, implementing, and demonstrating a user-friendly, highly secure, and privacy-preserving architecture for identity management and data sharing; finally, Track III focused on dissemination and exploitation of the project findings.
Track I – Use Case Definition, Requirements Elicitation, and Gap Analysis
In a first step, we identified a total of 15 potential storyboards for the three piloting domains, i.e. where a storyboard describes a high-level functionality that the CREDENTIAL Wallet offers to a user. Those storyboards were then iteratively refined to business and logical use cases. A subset of these use cases was then refined in detail for inclusion in the piloting phase of the project. Furthermore, a functional, legal, organizational, technical, usability, privacy and security requirements to the envisioned software components have been defined. Finally, a profound assessment of existing technologies has been performed in the domains of privacy-enhancing technologies, authentication to the cloud, identity protocols, and pilot-specific technologies. Based on this assessment, concrete primitives and protocols have been suggested and recommended for further research and usage in CREDENTIAL.
Track II – Research, Development, Implementation, and Demonstration
On the one hand, this track performed research on how to close the gaps related to cryptographic and security-related technologies.
On the other hand, a detailed architecture for the CREDENTIAL Wallet was defined. Besides the server-side components, this also included the UI design for the client side (an Android mobile application). This architecture was realized in an iterative process. In order to guarantee that all requirements defined in Track I are actually satisfied, a privacy-impact assessment for the CREDENTIAL Wallet has been carried out, and the code has been tested by professional penetration testers to also guarantee security in the implementation level.
In parallel to the development of the CREDENTIAL Wallet, the pilot partners started the integration of the Wallet into existing platforms and applications, in order to demonstrate the real-world usability of our results in the domains of eGovernment, eHealth, and eBusiness. The realized scenarios were then successfully tested with external users.
Track III – Communication, Dissemination, and Exploitation
CREDENTIAL has already performed significant work in order to disseminate and exploit the project’s results:
• more than 20 academic and non-academic technical articles were released, and numerous project-related presentations were held;
• relevant academic and industry events were attended;
• multiple (sessions at) conferences have been (co-)organized;
• liaisons with relevant research and standardization initiatives have been established;
• a new ISO/IEC standardization project on redactable signatures, one of the core cryptographic components used within CREDENTIAL, has been initiated;
• the website and social media accounts were actively used, and several technical and non-technical videos explaining the project ambition and pilots were made available;
• a patent on CREDENTIAL results has been granted;
• detailed exploitation and business plans per partner and for the entire consortium have been defined.
