'Prove You Are You Without Giving Away Your Personal Info' - Aleo Reveals New Privacy-Preserving Credential System

cryptonews.com:

Privacy-focused blockchain platform Aleo has revealed its new decentralized digital identity solution that allows users to reveal only the necessary data and only to whom it’s intended in the form of ‘proofs’ – without ever showing actual documents.

The zPass protocol is a novel privacy-preserving credential system built on the Aleo layer-1 blockchain, which keeps users’ sensitive information offline. 

When accessing online applications, only essential details are revealed, according to the press release.

Individuals and organizations can use zPass to upload their identity documents offline on private devices and services – then share anonymous ‘proofs’ as verification of that underlying data with institutions.

The computation is first done on a user's device and then delivered on-chain as a verified proof. Aleo's decentralized validators verify proofs before they are posted to the blockchain.

A major problem in this increasingly digital world, Aleo argues, is maintaining the balance between robust identity verification and user privacy – but doing so is essential.

Yet, current decentralized systems face privacy concerns, while centralized identity systems “face a trade-off between security and privacy” – they tend to collect more information than needed for verification due to regulatory requirements.

But a central storage is a large target for hackers.

“While these systems may technically meet regulatory standards, their data-rich environments become targets for cybercriminals, jeopardizing both user privacy and regulatory compliance.”

Meanwhile, says the team, zPass uses advanced zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptography techniques for private decentralized identity verification and leverages the Aleo blockchain for verified identity