On September 7, ICONLOOP signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with financial security specialist INITECH (CEO Seokmo Kang) to pursue a next-generation private certification business built on DID (decentralized identifiers).
Under the agreement, the two companies will combine INITECH's competitive edge in authentication and encryption within the information security market with ICONLOOP's blockchain-based DID capabilities, cooperating to develop a new private certification system to replace the accredited certificate and to create new customer value and business opportunities together.
Since the full amendment to the Digital Signature Act passed — legislation drawn up to address the way the accredited certificate's market monopoly held back technology and service innovation, inconveniencing users and stalling the growth of the certification market — DID technology, with its emphasis on self-sovereign identity and user convenience, has drawn attention as the next-generation means of identity verification.
With DID, a certificate issued once by a trusted institution is stored on the user's own device and checked for tampering against the blockchain, so a certificate that has already been verified does not have to be re-verified through a certification authority every time. Users can manage and control their own certificates directly and disclose information selectively when verification is required, which is expected to maximize convenience as well.
Even so, a substantial share of the certification systems in finance, public institutions and ordinary businesses is still built on infrastructure tied to the existing accredited certificate framework, and that has become a barrier to adopting any new certification system.
To address exactly this problem, ICONLOOP and INITECH plan to work together on a next-generation private certification system that preserves as much of the existing accredited certificate infrastructure as possible while using DID technology to let users manage and control their own personal data — securing safety and making authentication far more convenient.
"Through this DID-based next-generation certification business, we will raise the competitiveness of a Korean certification market that has fallen behind because of the accredited certificate, and do our utmost so that more people can understand blockchain and benefit from it," said ICONLOOP CEO JH Kim.
"Building on more than 20 years of authentication technology and the trust we have earned in the information security market, INITECH will create new value through the next-generation private certification business," said INITECH CEO Seokmo Kang.
[Company profiles]
ICONLOOP (www.iconloop.com)
ICONLOOP is a leading Korean blockchain technology company. Its distinctive DID capabilities made it the first in Korea to be registered in the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) international DID standard, and on that foundation it introduced MyID, a blockchain-based digital identity platform. Designated an Innovative Financial Service by the Financial Services Commission (FSC), MyID benefits from a special exception simplifying non-face-to-face identity verification, and its security has been validated through review by the Financial Security Institute (FSI). ICONLOOP recently launched Zzeung, the first DID service used in the financial sector, built on MyID — a landmark as the first commercial deployment of a DID service in Korean finance. ICONLOOP also leads the MyID Alliance, a DID consortium formed around MyID to build a trusted, blockchain-based digital ID ecosystem. The MyID Alliance took part in the shared DID standard for the financial sector announced by the FSI and fully complies with it.
INITECH (www.initech.com)
INITECH is a financial security specialist that provides financial, public sector and enterprise customers with a range of information security solutions and services grounded in authentication and encryption technology, and it runs ASP and SI businesses for the internet banking services of Korean financial institutions. Designated an accredited certification authority in June 2018, it has hands-on experience building and operating accredited certification services. Because accredited certificates and private certificates share the same technical structure, INITECH brings to the private certificate business the most current implementation know-how and certificate solution capabilities proven in security, performance and functionality. Its private certification solution is currently applied and operated in internal private certification services for financial companies and enterprise groups, and to meet the expanding private certificate market, the company is developing next-generation private certification solutions and taking part in private certification implementation projects for the financial sector, public institutions and general businesses.
