Abstract

Identity management is one of the most important topics in the security field. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is the most commonly used approach in legally identity management systems. PKI systems have many centralized services that might affect the availability and trustworthiness of the system. Issues related to certificate verification methods such as Certificate Revocation List (CRL) and Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) can be avoided if blockchain is used. Blockchain is a decentralized trusted system where data can only be appended to a public ledger. Edits are not allowed in blockchain. Blockchain consists of several nodes all of them have the same copy of data. Using blockchain in PKI systems can improve the performance, security, and availability of the PKI system.

In the literature chapter various solutions of using blockchain in PKI are explored explaining the weaknesses of each solution. From the literature it was found the research gap which is there is no solution that can enable blockchain to be part of traditional PKI systems preserving the standards of PKI, legally accepted and suitable for individuals.

The proposed solution aims to solve several problems in traditional PKI systems such as CRL availability and OCSP manipulation. The proposed solution can be plugged into any Certificate Authority (CA) system to enable the capabilities of blockchain.

While lots of work discussed in the literature is suitable for webservers, the proposed solution aims to be suitable for individuals. So, the proposed solution is recommended to be integrated with traditional PKI systems to add a new layer of security and availability.

From the implementation and experts’ review of the proposed solution it is proven that it is possible to use blockchain in PKI to develop a system that is suitable for individuals, follow PKI standards, can be plugged into PKI system, and legally accepted.

School

School of Sciences and Engineering

Department

Computer Science & Engineering Department

Degree Name

MS in Computer Science

Graduation Date

Spring 9-7-2023

Submission Date

9-12-2023

First Advisor

Sherif El-Kassas

Second Advisor

Mohamed Sedky

Committee Member 1

Mohamed Sedky

Committee Member 2

Amr El-Kadi

Committee Member 3

Hossam Abdel Latif

Extent

126 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Approval has been obtained for this item

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