Carla Lisiane de Oliveira Castanho

Research: Decentralized Digital Identity Model for Smart Cities
Advisor: Dr. Rafael Z. Frantz
Capes Taxa Scholarship
Join Date: 08/2023
Work Description:
I am a second-year PhD student with a strong interest in decentralised
applications. I am currently a member of the “Development of
Decentralised Integration Solutions to Enable Interoperation of Digital
Services in Smart and Sustainable Cities” project, where I am responsible
for the development of a decentralised identity system (DID) tailored for a
smart city environment. DID systems enable digital identification without
relying on a central authority. This contrasts with the identity systems that
prevail in the current Internet, such as Google IDs, FaceBook IDs and
TLS/SSL certificates that rely on central roots of trust. With the misuse of
personal data and data breaches that have recurrently led to identity leaks
and theft, DIDs are increasingly gaining interest from academia,
government bodies and industry. Among other advantages, decentralised
identity systems (DIDs) enable users to manage their identities and control
the disclosure of personal data during digital interactions, thereby
enhancing data security and privacy. DIDs represent an emerging area of
research, presenting numerous challenges and practical applications. For
example, they serve as a foundational component in efforts to support the
re-decentralisation of the Internet. For example, they serve as a foundational component in efforts to support the re-decentralisation of the Internet.
An example of an innovative DID system is TrustChain from the Alan Turing Institute in the UK.