The ability to establish individual digital identities of natural persons uniquely, accurately, quickly and securely is critical in our hyper
connected digital world. The application considered in this project, the digital identity wallet, is the basis of the digital identity (also known
as electronic identity or eID).
The identity verification market is forecast to more than double from $7.6 billion in 2020 to $15.8 billion in 2025, a 15.6 percent compound
annual growth rate, according to a report from Markets and Markets. In the case of Europe, the European Digital Identity (EUDI) wallets is
part of the priority projects identified for the period 2019 - 2024 and is within the goals of the European Digital Agenda 2030. The European
Commission's aim is that by 2030, 80% of the population within the Union will have this European digital identity and will be able to use it
for accessing online services in any Member State.
To carry out an identification, the user of the wallet typically proves: (a) to know a unique secret (what you know), (b) to have a unique
possession (what you have), and (c) to be a physical entity (who you are). The use of two different authentication factors is mandatory in
order to reach a substantial Level of Assurance (LoA). For LoA High, the eID solutions must be protected against attacks with high
potential, and against duplication and tampering. As specified by ENISA (the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity), a LoA High can
be achieved by embedding cryptographic key material in tamper-resistant hardware security module if possession-based authentication
factors are used, and ensuring trusted environment if biometric data are used.
There are many platforms, like smartphones, that do not provide direct access to their Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) but the
authentication technology is proprietary of the platform manufacturer and their hardware solutions are not transparent. Currently, many
proposals of EUDI wallets do not provide this high security or provide it by using a technology from outside the EU. The global objective of
the Hard-ID-wallet project will be to provide the secure hardware solutions required by the cryptographic and biometric components of
digital identity wallets. Hence, it will contribute to the Strategic Project of Microelectronics and Semiconductors, known as PERTE CHIP, in
line with the European Chips Act.
Hard-ID-wallet will focus on developing the research results obtained in the project entitled Trusted and post-quantum secure hardware for
wallets of decentralized identities using bio and device metrics that need to be transformed into a value creation process, in order to
achieve: (1) the incorporation of the results based on Behavioral and Physical Unclonable Functions (BPUFs) and True Random Number
Generators (TRNGs) into the secure hardware of the wallet; (2) the inclusion of the results on blockchain non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to
allow the wallet to follow a decentralized model of identification; and (3) the inclusion of novel crypto-biometric algorithms to bind the wallet
to its user, allowing its verification using a decentralized model with post-quantum security that preserves privacy.
The proof of concept could be very close to a commercial product offering the highly secure cryptographic and biometric wallet
components as a service. We estimate that this service could be very interesting for many and diverse wallet users.
Project PDC2023-145873-I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and European Union NextGenerationEU/ PRTR.
