VeriCert Protocol

Overview

VeriCert Protocol explores the integration of Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) principles into the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to enhance security, transparency, and privacy in digital identity management.

The protocol combines:

• Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs)
• Smart Contracts
• Blockchain Technology

to provide a decentralized and auditable framework for managing digital identities and certificates, with a specific focus on Certificate Transparency and Verifiable Presentations (VPs) during the TLS handshake.

Architecture & Concepts

• DIDs follow the W3C specification in the format:
  did:ethr:<identifier>
• DID lifecycle and resolution are handled via:
  • A custom DID resolver based on did-resolver
  • Smart contract SSLBlockchainReg.sol
• Blockchain layer:
  • Ethereum-compatible
  • Used to ensure transparency and integrity of certificate-related operations
• Performance evaluation:
  • Measurement of VP exchange and verification overhead during TLS handshakes between client and server

Technologies Used

• JavaScript
• Solidity
• Node.js (tested with Node.js 17)
• Truffle
• Ganache
• Ethereum
• Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF) libraries:
  • did-resolver
  • did-jwt
  • did-jwt-vc

Prerequisites

Make sure the following tools are installed:

• Node.js v17
• npm
• Truffle
• Ganache

Install project dependencies:

npm install

Installation & Local Testing

This project is intended for local experimentation and performance evaluation.

• Start a Local Blockchain
  • Launch a Ganache instance.
• Deploy Smart Contracts
  • Update deployment configuration:

    workdir/truffle-config.js

  • Deploy the contracts:

      truffle migrate

• Configure the Application
  • Edit the configuration file:

      workdir/config.json

  • Update: Smart contract address Mnemonic Provider URL Paths for performance CSV files under perfFiles
• Run the Experiment Open two separate terminals.
  • Terminal 1 – Server:

    node ./scr/appServer.js VP

  • Terminal 2 – Client:

    node ./scr/appClient.js VP

The scripts simulate VP exchange during the TLS handshake and store performance metrics in CSV format.

Performance Metrics

The following metrics are collected:

• VP generation time
• VP verification time
• End-to-end TLS handshake latency
• Cryptographic operation overhead
• Communication delay Results are saved as CSV files for offline analysis.

Use Cases

• Research on SSI–PKI integration
• Academic experiments on decentralized identity
• Performance benchmarking of VC/VP systems
• Certificate Transparency via blockchain
• Secure digital identity management

Limitations & Future Work

Currently tested only in a local Ganache environment

• Not optimized for production-scale deployments
• No formal security proofs included
• Future work may include:
  • Deployment on public Ethereum networks
  • Advanced credential revocation mechanisms
  • Hardware-backed key management
  • Formal security and performance analysis

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for more information.