Jessica Man

PhD thesis: Trustworthy archivable decentralised identity system (Tardis)

Digital identities have significant impact in our everyday life. However, there is no one system that can clearly tell an individual how all of their digital identities are being represented, distributed, and used. From a political standpoint, they could be used to introduce biases and other means to abuse power. From a security angle it is a serious concern, evident from the many reports regarding data breach and identity theft. From the functional perspective, they could cause much confusion and inconvenience in badly designed systems. In my research I will look into the multi-dimensional properties of digital identity and the dynamic nature of the context it is in. I will investigate how we can measure trustworthiness, as part of the design of a system that provides control in how they flow. I will also compare the appropriateness of having such a system centralised vs decentralised in the selected use cases.

Who or what inspired you to pursue your research interests?

When I was working in the industry I worked on various identity and authentication/authorization systems, I found them very interesting and challenging because of the fast-advancing technologies (for good and adversary) and human aspect. I was inspired by Professor Ross Anderson’s research in security engineering and social science in cybersecurity to pursue my research. I was lucky enough to have also met Professor Jon Crowcroft and Professor Anil Madhavapeddy, they provided different and valuable perspectives into this research area. I am forever grateful for their input, support, and encouragement.