" The Internet was built without a way to know who and what you are connecting to. This limits what we can do with it and exposes us to growing dangers. If we do nothing, we will face rapidly proliferating episodes of theft and deception which will cumulatively erode public trust in the Internet. "

Kim Cameron

Architect of Identity, Microsoft Corporation

Our Work

We do research into the three cornerstones of identity; personal data, communication and identity itself.

Identity

Identity holds the key to the freedoms and rights humanity holds dear. We research into how identity can be protected, relied upon and used to power trust and protect cornerstones like democracy and education.

Identity is not a product

The increasing trend among governmental and corporate entities to conceptualise and manage human identity as a product is fundamentally flawed. The approach is not only morally problematic, but also technically unsound.

Your security problem is an identity problem

It’s only going to get more difficult for organisations to protect themselves, their customers and their data as the technology the hackers use gets better. In many cases organisations simply aren’t ready for today's challenges, let alone those which are coming

XRPL Integration

XRPL is the blockchain built for business. We've integrated Self auth into the XRP Ledger and decentralised exchange bringing onchain compliance to solve regulatory challenges like MiCA

Personal Data

Data has been structured in effectively the same way since 1760. It was a great structure for a card index, but once connected to the internet it has caused real problems. We are exploring why and what can be done about it

The risks of centralising data

As federated, centralised identity systems have proliferated, identity and personal data have become one and the same placing consumers and organisations at risk.

Impact

What could an effective identity layer mean for the way we live work and play?

Learn About our Research

Are we getting closer to a true identity layer?

Initiatives like W3C Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Verifiable Credentials (VCs) are moving us toward an identity layer

The internet was built for machines not people

The internet has no built-in identity layer — it only knows devices and keys, not people. Everything we call “online identity” is an application-level patch, and that’s why the web’s trust and security problems are so persistent.‍

The Age of Paradoxical Security

Why, after decades of security innovation, does the volume and cost of digital fraud appear to accelerate?

Prototypes

During our research we've built a few things which will make their way to production over time.

Recovering Accounts

We needed a new way for users to recover accounts, this is the story of how we created an entirely new way to recover an account designed around the needs and skills of ordinary people.

Securing Crypto

For crypto to be able to transition into the 'real world' its speed and power at processing transactions will need to be met by equally powerful checks on senders and receivers of funds.

Simplifying Liveness

Really good UX ensures processes like checking liveness don't get in the way of the user as they try to do something. We explore how liveness at Self has evolved.