Attestation Documents

Overview

Identity is a difficult topic to begin with but when factoring in the decentralized and anonymous nature of blockchain it becomes even more difficult. As a result of this issue, with the addition of Integra Smart Documents, the Integra solution for identity is what is known as an Attestation Document. This document is a blockchain authenticated document that contains a specific component of identity, such as email, phone number, first and last name (by either social attestation of certificate authorities or identity verification services), organization, etc. Just like with the Integra Smart Identity Documents, these attestation documents should be stored in a safe location along with the identity document. Instead of a single wallet, that hold credentials in the crypto world, Integra uses individual files for the Smart Identity Document and for the Attestation Documents which will be explained in the next section.

Usage

There is a great reason that the Attestation Documents are individual documents for the user to store in a secure manner. In the Integra ecosystem, the individual user can choose what information they would like to share with the given document that is being registered on the Integra Blockchain. The attestation document that is shared will be embedded into the registered PDF document as an attachment, see the image below.

When the document is reviewed by the intended recipient, after verification of authenticity the attestation information is extracted and displayed. For example, if a user shared their email and phone number, the recipient would see the information displayed for that user's email and phone along with information registered about the document. There are two things that need to be clarified here. Firstly, there is NO personal information stored about these attestations on the blockchain. Due to the immutable nature of blockchain and GDPR legalities in the EU, it is never recommended to store any personal data on the blockchain but rather embed this information within the document. Below is an example of how the attestations are presented to the recipient or holder of the registered document.

Obtaining

Currently the only way to obtain attestation documents is when you create an IntegraId at https://identity.integraledger.com when first registering for the ecosystem. The attestations that are options during that process are email and phone via sending verification codes and ensure that the emails and phones are indeed the owners. There are going to be several other means to obtain attestation documents in the near future. These include, but are not limited to, certificate authority (node host) attestation, 3rd party identity attestation, and social attestation by verified users and or organizations.