Can Certificate Authorities (CA) be replaced by Blockchain Technology?
I have come across various research works where they are using Blockchain as repositories along with CA's.
Can CA's be completely eliminated?
CA should not be replaced by Blockchain. Instead, the certificates issued by CA can be verified using blockchain technology.
Blockchain technology has the primary objective of providing transparency and security to the transactions taking place in any business domain. It can strengthen the functioning of the CA's by making the certificates visible to all parties in the network and at the same time provides immutability the information thus making the certificates more secure and in no scenario the original certificate can tamper. Blockchain technology does not replace CA's but instead strengthens their operation.
good points but when the certificate is sent by encrypting it with public key of the receiver it is already secured rite in that case why do we need blockchain?
There are some research projects regarding this topic. For example in Germany is DigiCerts. They are evaluating a blockchain-based approach for certificates. However, I believe that maybe CA‘s adopt blockchain technology to their systems in the future.
- Verifying the Identity
- Issue the digital certificate
- Maintain the revocation list of certificates
So, I think these are the functions involved in a CA.
Is verification of an identity possible to a smart contract?
why not use the smart contract that generates a digital certificate!!!!