Overview
Self-Sovereign Data (SSD) is a fundamentally different approach to managing and verifying digital information compared to traditional centralised models.
With SSD, individuals or organisations retain full control over their data, including the ability to prove authenticity, integrity, and access. This allows information to be relied upon with confidence, without trusting any intermediary service provider, central authority, or “trusted broker.”
SSD is fully decentralised and ‘permissionless’ (see below), so that no external third party has make-or-break control over the system or the ability to block access, manipulate outcomes, or act as a gatekeeper. Participants interact directly with assurance that the information is genuine and unaltered.
Crucially, SSD focuses on facilitating the ability to PROVE information is authentic and tamper-free, enabling owners to control who can access it, for how long, and with the ability to revoke access at any time.
The importance of SSD increases significantly in high-value, high-risk, or high-trust scenarios, such as cross-border trade, legal agreements, insurance claims, financial records, and sensitive personal data. In these contexts, reliance on centralised intermediaries becomes increasingly risky, making SSD more compelling.
SSD addresses a cybersecurity challenge. It does not focus on secrecy or preventing copying, but rather it strengthens confidence in information, reduces the risk of counterfeits by enabling rapid and efficient verification of authenticity and ownership, reduces systemic risks from centralised control, and enables “Permissionless Access.”
Permissionless Access
A core tenet of SSD is the concept of Permissionless Access which means that any information Rights Holder can exercise their rights (e.g. access, share, revoke access etc) over that information without interference, or the need to seek permission, from third parties who are not Rights Holders, whether that be Big Tech, foreign governments, rival companies, or any others.
Frictionless, reliable and cost-effective exchange of verifiable information is crucial today, particularly given increasing global tensions, reliance on Big Tech and cloud storage services that may be subject to foreign laws, and of course the dramatic erosion of trust in information that can be so easily altered or manufactured by Generative AI.
Generative AI, Deep Fakes and SSD Mitigation
The rise of Generative AI (GenAI) has created new challenges, including the rapid creation of convincing deepfakes and AI-generated disinformation. These developments increase the risk of misinformation, reputational damage, and fraudulent activity across industries.
SSD provides robust, but practical and scalable, countermeasures to these risks by enabling verifiable, tamper-proof information and the ability to prove authorship, ownership and other rights over specific information including documents and other electronic formats.
Through cryptographic proofs, immutable record keeping and decentralised verification, SSD ensures that information can be traced to authentic sources and verified as being unaltered.
Rights Holders can certify authenticity, control access, revoke permissions, and verify information in real time, thereby significantly reducing the potential for AI-driven manipulations.
Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) – Role within SSD
SSI is an established approach to managing and verifying identity, conceived more than 10 years ago, and is an essential component of SSD. It enables individuals and organisations to retain full control over their identity data and how it is shared, allowing them to prove who they are in a verifiable, tamper-resistant way without relying on a central authority or intermediary.
SSI ensures identity claims can be trusted, selectively disclosed, and independently verified. Importantly, it also removes the need (and significantly reduces the liability) for organisations to store copies of Personal Identifiable Information (“PII”) that is so frequently the target of large-scale data breaches.
SSI creates a foundational layer within SSD so organisations and individuals can confirm both the authenticity of information and the identities of those involved. This ensures participants in SSD interactions (‘Certifiers’, ‘Subjects’, ‘Rights Holders’, ‘Verifiers’) are known, authentic, and accountable, and makes deepfakes and AI-generated counterfeits and fraudulent information significantly less effective.
Within SSD:
- SSI ensures the Certifier of information is confidently identified.
- SSI ensures the Subject of information is correctly represented.
- SSI enables Verifiers to confirm the certification and identities involved without relying on a ‘trusted third party.’
Data without trusted identity has limited value. SSI ensures integrity of participants so that, in turn, SSD can ensure data integrity.
Together, SSD and SSI create a framework where both data and participants can be relied upon with certainty, without centralised trust.
Summary
SSD acts as a digital safeguard, reinforcing trust and confidence at a critical time when AI-generated content is undermining what we see, hear, and read at unprecedented levels.
SSD enables direct, high-trust digital interactions without third-party intermediaries, unlocking new possibilities for reliable and efficient information exchange.
For More Information
If you represent an industry association or believe your organisation might benefit from more efficient and trusted exchange of verifiable information, please contact: ssd@secuura.ai