[This proposal comes from @Emmerson_Biggins. To support this proposal, sign it by clicking the like (heart) button beneath this post.]
By using the HOPR protocol for privacy and security, a new type of blockchain enabled certificate system/authority could be created to solve some of the issues with current SSL / TLS technologies which could improve online transaction security and reduce the maintenance and overhead on such things as certificates expiring, etc.
The intent for this proposal is to replace use-cases for TLS connections with connections over HOPR which would remove the reliance on a certificate authority and add metadata privacy. This could help alleviate certificate management and human error type issues which occur with the current standard.
Implementation of this proposal would likely require partnerships and/or grants to create the infrastructure necessary to mimic certificate authority functionality over the HOPR protocol.
The intention of this proposal may be best described with an example…Here is a real world example. The healthcare system in the USA relies on these certificates when passing healthcare data between systems, say you have 10k clients sending data to a middleware system and data center, then that middleware system prepares and sends the required data to a public health authority. Let’s say the data is patient immunization records during a pandemic. When there are numerous servers along that chain, simply managing the certificates can be a pain point and even a single point of failure if mismanaged. Sometimes these certificates are owned by government or other entities so managing them is not possible. Adding metadata privacy and decentralizing the role of Certificate Authority could better automate that process and remove some of the human error.
[To view the original discussion, click here]