Blockchain Identity Data Policy Enforcement

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current data protection solutions lack the ability to enforce data owner-defined policies for identity data security within a blockchain environment, failing to provide granular control over data sharing based on the type of data consumer and the sensitivity of identity attributes.

Innovation Solution

A computer-implemented method that retrieves and applies data owner-defined data protection policies from a blockchain to determine the appropriate level of data sharing with data consumers, using cryptographic keys to manage access and transform sensitive attributes as needed, ensuring compliance with regulations like GDPR.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If data sharing is enabled without policy control, then data accessibility and productivity are improved, but data security and protection against unauthorized access deteriorate

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata accessibilityVSAvoiddata security

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system retrieves and applies data protection policies before executing any data sharing operation. The policy is fetched from the blockchain in advance and used to determine the appropriate level of data sharing, ensuring security controls are established before data access is granted.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The data protection policy acts as an intermediary between the data owner and data consumer. The policy defines the terms and conditions that must be satisfied for data sharing to occur, mediating the interaction and ensuring both parties comply with agreed-upon security requirements.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If granular attribute-level control is implemented, then data protection and security are improved, but system complexity and device complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata protectionVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments data protection control at the attribute level rather than treating data as a monolithic entity. Each identity data attribute can have its own protection policy, allowing fine-grained control over which specific attributes are shared and under what conditions, while the blockchain framework manages the complexity of storing and enforcing these segmented policies.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

3Reliability

If data owner-defined policies are enforced, then data security and compliance are improved, but data sharing efficiency and productivity decrease

Engineering Contradiction:

ImprovecomplianceVSAvoiddata sharing efficiency

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The system automatically retrieves and applies data protection policies without requiring manual intervention from data owners for each data sharing transaction. The blockchain stores the policies and enables automated enforcement, allowing the system to self-manage compliance while maintaining high data sharing efficiency.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentUS11238178B2Blockchain network to protect identity data attributes using data owner-defined policies

Publication Date: 2022.02.01 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION

AI summary

Applying data owner-defined data protection policies for identity data security within a blockchain environment is provided. A data sharing request for an identity data attribute corresponding to a data owner is received from a data consumer. A data protection policy defined by the data owner that corresponds to the identity data attribute requested by the data consumer is retrieved from a blockchain. The data protection policy is applied to the identity data attribute requested by the data consumer to determine amount of data sharing with the data consumer.