High Assurance VID Task Force (HAVID)

Owned by Alex Tweeddale
Last updated: Nov 08, 2024 by Drummond Reed
3 min read

Mission

The High Assurance VID Task Force (HAVTF) is a task force of the ToIP Technology Stack Working Group. Its mission is to create a specification and implementation guidance for how the controller of a verifiable identifier (VID) can enable greater assurance in the integrity of that VID though mechanisms that enable the controller to bridge across different:

  • VID flavours—including Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs), X.509 certificates and Domain Name System (DNS) records—to provide both higher cryptographic assurance and stronger semantic linkage; and,

  • Trust realms (aka trust domains) so the same VID can be verified from more than one trust roots to increase human trust and enhance interoperability.

This “bridged approach” to VIDs will lay the foundation for High Assurance (HA) VID Profiles that can work with many different types of VIDs. This approach allows decision-makers to choose the most suitable VID for specific contexts and purposes without foregoing interoperability between VID systems. Below is one example of how such an HA VID identifying an example company could be deployed based on a DID, a DNSSEC record (following the High Assurance DIDs with DNS RFC), and an X.509 digital certificate containing an LEI (following ISO 17442 Part 2).

HAVTF-illustration-from-Andre.png

By designing a framework that supports and acknowledges the unique benefits of each VID flavour, different flavours can co-exist rather than compete. This should result in a more robust, scalable, flexible and high assurance architecture for the implementation of ToIP digital trust ecosystems.

For a complete overview of the development process for the ToIP technology stack, see Evolution of the ToIP Stack.

Deliverables

The deliverable of this Task Force is the High Assurance VID Specification, intended to create common patterns for establishing trust between different VID flavours. Accordingly, a VID must meet the requirements of a Verifiable Identifier (VID) as specified in the ToIP Technology Architecture V1.0 Specification and the draft ToIP Trust Spanning Protocol Specification. The requirements in this specification must interoperate with other ToIP component specifications as explained in the Evolution of the ToIP Stack.

Leadership

Please add your name to this list if you wish to be a co-chair of this task force:

  • @Alex Tweeddale

  • @Andre Kudra

  • @Drummond Reed

  • @Jesse Carter

  • @Mathieu Glaude

  • @Scott Perry

Membership and Joining

Prior to participating in the meetings please ensure that you are a member of the Trust Over IP Foundation. Contributor level membership is available to anyone at no cost. Details can be found at this link.

To join this TF, add your name to this list:

  • <name here, plus affiliation if an organizational member>

  • @Antti Kettunen

  • @Charles Lanahan

Meeting Schedule and Notes

The proposed meeting schedule is every week on Thursdays, starting 26 September 2024:

  • 06:00-07:00 PT / 9:00-10:00 EDT / 13:00-15:00 UTC / 15:00-16:00 CEST / 23:00-00:00 AEST

Please check the ToIP Calendar for current times and Zoom links for these meetings.

Meeting Notes, including Zoom recordings, are kept for every meeting — see HAVTF Meeting Pages for an index.

Meetings agendas are also announced on the ToIP Slack channel #HAVID. Please join us there.

Milestones

To be discussed in opening meeting.

Intellectual Property Rights (Copyright, Patent, Source Code)

As a Task Force (TF) of the Technology Stack WG (TSWG), the X5VTF inherits the IPR terms from the TSWG JDF Charter.

Mailing List and Communications

This task force uses the following for communications

  • Mailing List: This TF is not using a separate mailing list but sending all emails to the full Technology Stack WG mailing list.

  • Github: Use the Discussions tab: 

  • Slack: The ToIP Slack channel is #HAVID