cadastry

title: "Digital Identity" order: 1

Digital Identity and Signatures

Digital identity and cryptographic signatures are fundamental to Cadastry's secure and verifiable metadata management system. This section explains how Cadastry implements digital identities and leverages cryptographic signatures to ensure data integrity and authenticity.

Digital Identity in Cadastry

Digital identity in Cadastry refers to the unique representation of an entity (individual, organization, program or device) within the network. It serves as the foundation for authentication, authorization, and accountability in metadata management.

Key Components of Digital Identity

  1. Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs): Cadastry uses its CDIDs to create globally unique identifiers for entities in the network.

  2. Verifiable Credentials: These are cryptographically secure claims about an identity, such as qualifications, certifications, or permissions.

  3. Identity Keys: Users can manage their digital identities and credentials through secure, user-controlled cryptographic keys.

Cryptographic Signatures

Cryptographic signatures in Cadastry ensure the integrity, authenticity, and non-repudiation of metadata and transactions within the network.

How Signatures Work in Cadastry

The signature process in Cadastry follows three main steps:

  1. Key Pair Generation: Each entity generates a public-private key pair associated with their digital identity.

  2. Signing Process: When creating or modifying metadata, the entity signs the data with their private key.

  3. Verification: Other parties can verify the signature using the signer's public key, ensuring the data hasn't been tampered with and confirming the signer's identity.

Benefits of Digital Identity and Signatures in Cadastry

Digital identity and signatures in Cadastry provide several key advantages:

  • Enhanced Security: Cryptographic signatures provide a high level of security against fraud and tampering.
  • Non-Repudiation: Signers cannot deny their association with signed metadata or transactions.
  • Granular Access Control: Digital identities enable fine-grained permissions for viewing and modifying metadata.
  • Interoperability: Cadastry's digital identity system is designed to be compatible with other blockchain networks and identity standards.
  • Privacy Preservation: Users have control over their identity information and can selectively disclose only necessary details.

Implementing Digital Identity and Signatures

To leverage digital identity and signatures in your Cadastry project:

  1. Create a digital identity using Cadastry's SDK or Cadastry extension.
  2. Generate and securely store your cryptographic key pair.
  3. Use your private key to sign metadata and transactions.
  4. Implement signature verification in your application to validate incoming data.

Use Cases

Digital identity and signatures enable various applications within the Cadastry ecosystem:

  1. Secure Metadata Creation: Sign metadata documents to prove authorship and ensure integrity.
  2. Easy sign-in: Use Cadastry actor to easily login into applications.
  3. Access Control: Use digital identities to manage permissions for modifying and referencing metadata.
  4. Cross-Chain Identity: Leverage Cadastry's digital identity system for authentication across multiple blockchain networks.
  5. Verifiable Credentials: Issue and verify credentials for various purposes, such as certifications or access rights.

Next Steps

To learn more about implementing digital identity in your projects:

  • Follow our tutorial on building a decentralized identity solution with Cadastry
  • Learn about node types and network structure in Cadastry
  • Explore how to integrate Cadastry with existing systems

By leveraging Cadastry's digital identity and signature capabilities, developers can create secure, verifiable, and privacy-preserving applications that enhance trust and accountability in the blockchain ecosystem.