Hi5

Identity at your fingerprints 

Executive Summary

Anyone should be able to establish their identity, even without documents. The Hi5 Project provides an effective identity alternative that enables the world to do just that.

The Smart ID Card

Every Hi5 user receives a smart ID card which is operated using biometrics. The user is not required to purchase any device and the ID card is easily operable by anyone who lacks literacy or numeracy.

Hi5 cards are issued at Identity Kiosks operated by World Bank employees. Identity Kiosks themselves are portable and low-cost, consisting of a basic Android tablet with attached fingerprint scanner and card printer. All the user needs to do is submit a fingerprint sample to receive their card. 

Later, to prove their identity to any service provider - such as to a health care professional - the user touches their ID card to the provider’s android device, and their finger to a fingerprint scanner. If any records need to be accessed, the user can give their consent using the same procedure.

Privacy-by-design

Hi5 provides users with an exceptional degree of security and control over personal data. 

The card itself cannot be used by anyone other than its rightful owner. It will not be possible for any bad actor to access any of the user's data as the card does not in fact hold any such data.

Any data that is collected from a Hi5 user is done so only by their biometric consent. Then, that data is stored on an encrypted cloud, hosted by the World Bank.

Recovery

What is critical for the system to work is a secure recovery system for lost Hi5 ID cards. The system we have designed prevents third parties from having influence during the recovery process. Cards are reissued at Hi5 Identity Kiosks following resubmission of biometrics and a memorized pin code. 

Financial Inclusion

Hi5's basic infrastructure can be built upon to provide users with the ability to make payments in absolute security. In essence, users could "load up" Hi5 ID cards with currencies or vouchers. Account balances would be registered on distributed ledgers and payments would require biometric authentication.

Flexibility

Hi5 is a fully general purpose identity platform and is designed for scalability as well as interoperability. It can function independently or in conjunction with other identity systems.

About us

The Hi5 project team is a collaboration between the Blockpass Identity Research Lab (BIL), Blockpass, and Sofitto.

Located at Edinburgh Napier University, in Scotland, BIL is a privacy-focussed research lab consisting of 6 PH.D students, led by Prof. Bill Buchanan OBE. 

Blockpass (https://blockpass.org) is a Hong Kong based provider of user-centric identity software.

Sofitto (https://sofitto.com) is a Fintech company that has developed a smart card cryptocurrency payments system.

The Hi5 project is a new application of established technologies.

We incorporate blockchain to ensure, first, that the digital signatures of all system participants are verifiable, and second, that it will always be possible to check the authenticity of any issued identity certificate.

We also apply this technology to a zero knowledge financial inclusion platform that will be built on top of the identity system. We have developed the zkERC20 token standard for this purpose.

We are also using zero knowledge cryptography to be able to prove certain identity attributes without the raw data supporting those attributes being revealed.

Just like with all identity systems, when a Hi5 identity is created and then built upon, certain data must be collected from the user. What makes Hi5 different is that all collected data is immediately encrypted by the end user his or herself, regardless of their technological literacy.

When the user's fingerprint is applied to the scanner, their data is sent to a personal encrypted vault, which is itself stored on an end-to-end encrypted cloud. The data is hashed, ensuring 'auditability,' while raw data is only available to the user. A zero-knowledge system ensures the user can share credentials without revealing data.

The Hi5 system is built to run in parallel with existing identity systems. However, we fully expect that as it becomes possible to establish a government-issued identity for the user, they are likely to transition to using that identity in many day-to-day situations.

One of the teams behind Hi5, Blockpass, has already built a document-based digital identity system.  The overall architecture of Hi5 would emulate that system in that it would be built with interoperability in mind. What is more, the Hi5 system would be open source, and so it would be possible to integrate additional plugins that can be interfaced with other identity systems.

Hi5 is an extremely user friendly digital identity system. The user receives their smart ID card only after they have generated their digital identity. They will use the ID card to access their encrypted vault - in which their identity is stored - or to create identity credentials, to have those credentials verified, and to use those credentials to access services.

In order to access a services, the user taps the service provider’s device with their card and authenticates with a finger print. Recovery requires only that biometrics and a pin code be submitted at any Identity Kiosk.

The system will be entirely open source. Data is stored in an encrypted format on a cloud maintained by the World Bank while the system has an open API. Plugins can be built on top. 

The user need not have any connectivity to use the card. To do a data transaction the identity kiosk must have some connectivity.

No literacy is required for the user to carry out operations using the card. They only need to be able to retain the card as well as to provide the necessary biometric information to activate any data transaction.

There is no technical limit to the scalability of the solution. The system requires little training on the part of identity issuers, and virtually no training at all for end users. Little technology needs to be purchased by any organization and most service providers already possess the the technology necessary in order to authenticate Hi5 users.

Edinburgh Napier University, Ethfinex, Open Identity Exchange, Korporatio, Holdex, Agora, Chain of Things, Infinity Blockchain Labs, Diacle, Coinfirm, Bnktothefuture, Trusted IoT alliance, GoSecurity, agechecked.

Resource gathering is very much something that is in “our wheelhouse.” The Blockpass Identity Lab is currently applying for government-based funding and is in the process of launching an incubator that would attract VCs and angel investors. Blockpass is crowdfunded and is currently raising funds privately.

Private instances of the open source platform. The model would be similar to that of Red Hat, but for Identity.

We believe that participation in the Mission Billion Challenge will help us gain access to a network of governmental and non-governmental organizations that could potentially deploy this system.

Our biggest challenge is understanding local contextual barriers and adapting the solution to address them. In this respect we are working with experts in the field in sub-saharan Africa where more than 50% of people without IDs are based.