Data is driving our world today. However, we hear about data breaches and identity thefts all the time. Trust on the Internet is broken, and it needs to be fixed. As such, it is imperative that we adopt a new approach to identity management, and ensure data security and user privacy through tamper-proof transactions and infrastructures.

Blockchain-based decentralized identity management is revolutionizing this space. The four Hyperledger open source Identity projects, Aries, Indy, AnonCreds, and Ursa, provide the foundation for guilding distributed applications using authentic data. Together, the projects include protocol specifications and open source tools, libraries, and reusable components for establishing secure, peer-to-peer messaging channels that can be used for issuing, holding, presenting, and verifying verifiable credentials. These capabilities enable the creation and use of independent digital identities rooted on blockchains or other distributed ledgers that are interoperable across administrative domains, applications, and any other data silo.

While this course will mention Ursa and dive a bit into Indy and AnonCreds, its main focus is on Aries, and the possibilities Aries brings for building applications on a solid foundation of digital trust. This focus will be explained further in the course but for now, rest assured: if you want to start developing applications that are identity focused and using the blockchain, this is where you need to be.