IBM’s Idemix Software Protects Internet Users’ Identities

IBM has introduced software that allows users to protect their personal information on the internet, thereby ensuring protection against identity theft and other abuses.

     The software was developed by researchers at IBM’s laboratory in Zurich, and its code name is Identity Mixer or Idemix for short. It will enable users to purchase goods and services online without the need to disclose personal data. IBM will incorporate its Idemix software into the Eclipse Higgins project – an initiative for the development of open-source software aimed at user-centric identity management. This represents a new trend in the development of identity management applications that allows individual users to actively and securely control who has access to their personal data available on the internet, such as information about bank accounts, credit card numbers, or, more recently, medical records and personnel databases, which are currently controlled by certain institutions.

Users on the internet provide personal data in order to, for example, purchase music or subscribe to newsletters, leaving a trace in the form of information based on which it is possible to reconstruct the scope and frequency of their purchases and other customer data. IBM’s Idemix software eliminates this possibility by using substitute information for identity verification – so-called pseudonyms – to make online transactions anonymous. Thus, this software allows users to purchase books or clothing without the need to enter their credit card number, check their bank account limit without revealing the current account balance, or verify the user’s age without disclosing their date of birth.

Unlike other identity management solutions that partially transmit information about the user’s true identity, Idemix-based systems will enable privacy protection by transmitting pseudonyms, thereby keeping the user’s identity data protected from interception and disclosure.
Idemix works by allowing users, through appropriate software on their computer, to obtain a digital credential or voucher issued by an authorized institution such as a bank, insurance company, or government agency.

A company engaged in health insurance can, for example, issue a digital credential to the user confirming the level of health services available to them. Idemix digitally signs the credential, which the user can then use to, for example, request medical consultations through the appropriate service on the internet.

In doing so, they will send their credential to the consulting service. The Idemix software acts as an intermediary, using sophisticated cryptographic algorithms to protect the user’s identity. The user’s real data is never disclosed to the provider of medical consultation services. The next time the user requests services, they will use a new encrypted credential.