Mike Jones: self-issued

I was surprised and deeply honored to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from Kuppinger Cole at EIC 2023. As I recalled when accepting the award, when Kim Cameron received the same award about a decade ago, he said from the podium “No, don’t do this! My career isn’t over! I’m not done contributing!” Kim always had a wicked wit. ;-)

Coincidentally, I described some of the achievements that led to the award during my keynote Touchstones Along My Identity Journey. After a couple of times of me saying “We won an award for that” during the keynote, I was amused that the audience would break out into laughter each subsequent time that I mentioned another award. Like this award, the audience’s reaction was unexpected and delightful.

No Comments » Posted under Events & History & People

I had the distinct honor of being invited to give a keynote talk at EIC 2023. The result was Touchstones Along My Identity Journey. My talk abstract was:

In 2005, Kim Cameron excitedly told me about digital identity and set my life on a course to “Build the Internet’s missing identity layer”. In this talk I’ll tell key stories from my identity journey – stories of the people, ideas, and lessons learned along the way. I’ll speak of technology and collaboration, usability and business models, solving problems people actually have, and building new ecosystems. Come with me on this journey of exploration, trials, triumphs, and humor as I recount touchstones of the human endeavor that is digital identity.

Kuppinger Cole has posted a video of my keynote on YouTube. I was pleased with how well it went. After the first few sentences, I was in the zone! I hope many of you find the messages in the talk useful.

My slides are also available in (PowerPoint) and PDF.

Special thanks go to the OpenID Foundation for supporting my trip to EIC this year and to designer Alistair Kincaid at MATTR for helping me transcend my usual black-bulleted-text-on-a-white-background presentation style!

1 Comment » Posted under Claims & Cryptography & Events & Federation & FIDO & History & IETF & Information Cards & Interoperability & JSON & OAuth & OpenID & People & Phishing Resistance & Specifications & Windows CardSpace

The session Current Work and Future Trends in Selective Disclosure at EIC 2023 covered a lot of foundational work happening in the space of Selective Disclosure right now. Selective Disclosure enables you to have a token with many claims (say, an ISO Mobile Drivers’ License (mDL)), and only release the claims necessary for the interaction – for instance, your birthdate but not your home address. Selective Disclosure enables Minimal Disclosure. This is sometimes realized using Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) but that’s not always necessary.

The agenda for the session was:

Mike Jones – Introductory remarks
Daniel Fett – SD-JWT
Kristina Yasuda – ISO mdoc
Tobias Looker – Zero-Knowledge Proofs and BBS
David Waite – JSON Web Proofs and JOSE
All – Closing Remarks and Discussion

Our presentations are available in (PowerPoint) and PDF.

No Comments » Posted under Claims & Cryptography & Events & People

Giuseppe De Marco and I presented the session How do you know who to trust? at EIC 2023.

A key question when granting access to resources is “Who do you trust?”. It’s often important to know who the party is that you’re interacting with and whether they’ve agreed to the terms and conditions that apply when accessing a resource.

OpenID Connect enables identities of participants to be securely established but doesn’t answer the question of whether a participant is trusted to access a resource such as your personal data. A complementary mechanism is needed to do that. In small-scale and static deployments, it’s possible to keep a list of the trusted participants. However, in large-scale and dynamic deployments, that doesn’t scale.

This presentation described how the OpenID Connect Federation protocol enables scalable trust establishment with dynamic policies. It does so by employing trust hierarchies of authorities, each of which are independently administered. Examples of authorities are federation operators, organizations, departments within organizations, and individual sites.

Two OpenID Connect Federations are deployed in Italy, enabling secure access to digital services operated by Italian public and private services with Italian digital identities. This presentation described why OpenID Connect Federation was selected for them and how it meets their needs. OpenID Connect Federation is also being used by the GAIN PoC.

Our presentation is available in (PowerPoint) and PDF.

No Comments » Posted under Events & Federation & OpenID & People

Following a call for adoption by the restarted JSON Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE) Working Group, I’m pleased to report that the three initial working group specifications have been published. They are:

JSON Web Proof, with abstract:

This document defines a new container format similar in purpose and design to JSON Web Signature (JWS) called a JSON Web Proof (JWP). Unlike JWS, which integrity-protects only a single payload, JWP can integrity-protect multiple payloads in one message. It also specifies a new presentation form that supports selective disclosure of individual payloads, enables additional proof computation, and adds a protected header to prevent replay and support binding mechanisms.

JSON Proof Algorithms, with abstract:

The JSON Proof Algorithms (JPA) specification registers cryptographic algorithms and identifiers to be used with the JSON Web Proof (JWP) and JSON Web Key (JWK) specifications. It defines several IANA registries for these identifiers.

JSON Proof Token, with abstract:

JSON Proof Token (JPT) is a compact, URL-safe, privacy-preserving representation of claims to be transferred between three parties. The claims in a JPT are encoded as base64url-encoded JSON objects that are used as the payloads of a JSON Web Proof (JWP) structure, enabling them to be digitally signed and selectively disclosed. JPTs also support reusability and unlinkability when using Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs).

Thanks to Jeremie Miller and David Waite for helping us get there!

No Comments » Posted under CBOR & Claims & Cryptography & IETF & JSON & Privacy & Specifications

The OAuth 2.0 Demonstrating Proof-of-Possession at the Application Layer (DPoP) specification was approved by the IESG and is now in the hands of the RFC Editor in preparation for publication as an RFC. In a related development, the multiple IANA registrations requested by the specification are already in place.

As Vittorio Bertocci wrote, “One of the specs with the highest potential for (positive) impact in recent years.” I couldn’t agree more!

The latest version of the specification is available at:

• https://tools.ietf.org/id/draft-ietf-oauth-dpop-16.html

Implement and deploy early and often!

No Comments » Posted under Uncategorized

The First Public Working Draft (FPWD) of the Securing Verifiable Credentials using JSON Web Tokens (VC-JWT) specification has been published. The FPWD milestone is described in the W3C Process document. This draft is another step on the way to a Native JWT Representation for Verifiable Credentials.

Please review the First Public Working Draft of VC-JWT. Thanks especially to Orie Steele for making this happen!

No Comments » Posted under Claims & JSON & Specifications & W3C

I gave the following presentation at the Monday, April 17, 2023 OpenID Workshop at Microsoft:

• OpenID Connect Working Group (PowerPoint) (PDF)

I also gave the following invited “101” session presentation at the Internet Identity Workshop (IIW) on Tuesday, April 18, 2023:

• Introduction to OpenID Connect (PowerPoint) (PDF)

No Comments » Posted under Events & OpenID

Following the IETF-wide publication request, we’ve published another DPoP draft that addresses additional review comments received to date. This version is destined for the IESG Telechat on April 13, 2023.

Recent changes as described in the history log are:

• Add sec considerations sub-section about binding to client identity
• Explicitly say that nonces must be unpredictable
• Change to a numbered list in ‘Checking DPoP Proofs’
• Editorial adjustments
• Incorporated HTTP header field definition and RFC 8792 ‘\’ line wrapping suggestions by Mark Nottingham

The specification is available at:

• https://tools.ietf.org/id/draft-ietf-oauth-dpop-14.html

No Comments » Posted under IETF & OAuth & Specifications

For the first time, there is now a native JSON Web Token (JWT) representation for Verifiable Credentials. This representation uses IANA-registered JWT claims whenever applicable. Among other improvements and simplifications, this means that we finally have a Verifiable Credentials representation that doesn’t require the use of JSON-LD.

The native JWT representation explicitly isn’t a mapping from the VC Data Model. This mapping in the VC 1.1 specification resulted in ambiguities about whether to duplicate VC Data Model claims in the VC-JWT representation (the “in addition to” option) or whether to delete them from the VC Data Model representation (the “instead of” option). These ambiguities harmed interoperability. Rather, the 2.0 VC-JWT representation is its own simpler native JWT data structure.

See the new native JWT VC representation in the Version 2 section of the “Securing Verifiable Credentials using JSON Web Tokens” specification. You can also compare it there to the Version 1.1 representation, which is a mapping from the VC Data Model with the “in addition to” and “instead of” choices.

This accomplishment is the product of the vision, passion, and perseverance of many advocates of simplifying Verifiable Credentials. Foremost among them is Orie Steele – my co-editor for the VC-JWT specification. I’ll also observe that the pull request creating this functionality had an unprecedented fifteen approvers – an indication of the broad support for this direction for Verifiable Credentials. I am proud to have played a role in making it happen.

1 Comment » Posted under Claims & JSON & Specifications & W3C

I’m thrilled that the IETF has restarted the JSON Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE) Working Group. It’s chartered to work on JSON- and CBOR-based representations for Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs), selective disclosure enabling minimal disclosure, and non-correlatable presentation. The representations are planned to use the three-party model of Issuer, Holder, and Verifier utilized by Verifiable Credentials.

See the newly approved JOSE charter at https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/charter-ietf-jose/03/. The working group will be chaired by Karen O’Donoghue, John Bradley, and John Mattsson, with the assigned area director being Roman Danyliw.

I believe this is a great outcome because the JOSE working group participants already have expertise creating simple, widely-adopted JSON-based cryptographic formats, such as JSON Web Signature (JWS), JSON Web Encryption (JWE), and JSON Web Key (JWK). The new formats will be peers to JWS, JWE, and COSE, reusing elements that make sense, while enabling use of new cryptographic algorithms whose inputs and outputs are not representable in the existing JOSE and COSE formats.

If you’re interested in the work, please join the JOSE mailing list at https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/jose if you’re not already a member. Also, plan to participate in IETF 116 Yokohama, where we should be able to have the first meeting of the reconstituted working group. I hope to see you there!

As background, the first step in the JOSE rechartering was the JSON Web Proofs (JWP) BoF at IETF 114 in Philadelphia sponsored by Security Area Director Roman Danyliw and chaired by Karen O’Donoghue and John Bradley, during which Jeremie Miller, Kristina Yasuda, Tobias Looker, and I presented. That was follwed by a Virtual Interim JWP BoF in October, 2022, review on the ietf-announce mailing list, and multiple IESG discussions.

All of which brings us back to the (now recurring!) question: “What Would JOSE Do?” Join us and be part of answering it!

No Comments » Posted under CBOR & Cryptography & Events & IETF & JSON & Privacy & Specifications

This week Brian Campbell published an updated OAuth 2.0 Demonstrating Proof-of-Possession at the Application Layer (DPoP) draft addressing the Area Director review comments received. Thanks to Roman Danyliw for his useful review!

As Brian wrote, updates in this version of the specifiation were:

• Updates from Roman Danyliw’s AD review
• DPoP-Nonce now included in HTTP header field registration request
• Fixed section reference to URI Scheme-Based Normalization
• Attempt to better describe the rationale for SHA-256 only and expectations for how hash algorithm agility would be achieved if needed in the future
• Elaborate on the use of multiple WWW-Authenticate challenges by protected resources
• Fix access token request examples that were missing a client_id

The specification is available at:

• https://tools.ietf.org/id/draft-ietf-oauth-dpop-12.html

No Comments » Posted under IETF & OAuth & Specifications

I gave the following presentation at the Monday, November 14, 2022 OpenID Workshop at VISA:

• OpenID Connect Working Group (PowerPoint) (PDF)

I also gave the following invited “101” session presentation at the Internet Identity Workshop (IIW) on Tuesday, November 15, 2022:

• Introduction to OpenID Connect (PowerPoint) (PDF)

No Comments » Posted under Events & OpenID

Thanks to all who helped us reach this important milestone! This was originally announced on the OpenID blog. These now Final specifications are:

• OpenID Connect Session Management 1.0
• OpenID Connect Front-Channel Logout 1.0
• OpenID Connect Back-Channel Logout 1.0
• OpenID Connect RP-Initiated Logout 1.0

Don’t just sign in. Also sign out!

No Comments » Posted under OpenID & Specifications

Brian Campbell published an updated OAuth 2.0 Demonstrating Proof-of-Possession at the Application Layer (DPoP) draft addressing the shepherd review comments received. Thanks to Rifaat Shekh-Yusef for his useful review!

Following publication of this draft, Rifaat also created the shepherd write-up, obtained IPR commitments for the specification, and requested publication of the specification as an RFC. Thanks all for helping us reach this important milestone!

The specification is available at:

• https://tools.ietf.org/id/draft-ietf-oauth-dpop-11.html

No Comments » Posted under IETF & OAuth & Specifications

The JWK Thumbprint URI specification has been published as RFC 9278. Congratulations to my co-author, Kristina Yasuda, on the publication of her first RFC!

The abstract of the RFC is:

This specification registers a kind of URI that represents a JSON Web Key (JWK) Thumbprint value. JWK Thumbprints are defined in RFC 7638. This enables JWK Thumbprints to be used, for instance, as key identifiers in contexts requiring URIs.

The need for this arose during specification work in the OpenID Connect working group. In particular, JWK Thumbprint URIs are used as key identifiers that can be syntactically distinguished from other kinds of identifiers also expressed as URIs in the Self-Issued OpenID Provider v2 specification.

No Comments » Posted under Cryptography & IETF & OAuth & OpenID & Specifications

This week at IETF 114 in Philadelphia, we held a Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) session on JSON Web Proofs (JWPs). JSON Web Proofs are a JSON-based representation of cryptographic inputs and outputs that enable use of Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs), selective disclosure for minimal disclosure, and non-correlatable presentation. JWPs use the three-party model of Issuer, Holder, and Verifier utilized by Verifiable Credentials.

The BoF asked to reinstate the IETF JSON Object Signing and Encryption (JOSE) working group. We asked for this because the JOSE working group participants already have expertise creating simple, widely-adopted JSON-based cryptographic formats, such as JSON Web Signature (JWS), JSON Web Encryption (JWE), and JSON Web Key (JWK). The JWP format would be a peer to JWS and JWE, reusing elements that make sense, while enabling use of new cryptographic algorithms whose inputs and outputs are not representable in the existing JOSE formats.

Presentations given at the BoF were:

• Chair Slides – Karen O’Donoghue and John Bradley
• The need: Standards for selective disclosure and zero-knowledge proofs – Mike Jones
• What Would JOSE Do? Why re-form the JOSE working group to meet the need? – Mike Jones
• The selective disclosure industry landscape, including Verifiable Credentials and ISO Mobile Driver Licenses (mDL) – Kristina Yasuda
• A Look Under the Covers: The JSON Web Proofs specifications – Jeremie Miller
• Beyond JWS: BBS as a new algorithm with advanced capabilities utilizing JWP – Tobias Looker

You can view the BoF minutes at https://notes.ietf.org/notes-ietf-114-jwp. A useful discussion ensued after the presentations. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to finish the BoF in the one-hour slot. The BoF questions unanswered in the time allotted would have been along the lines of “Is the work appropriate for the IETF?”, “Is there interest in the work?”, and “Do we want to adopt the proposed charter?”. Discussion of those topics is now happening on the jose@ietf.org mailing list. Join it at https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/jose to participate. Roman Danyliw, the Security Area Director who sponsored the BoF, had suggested that we hold a virtual interim BoF to complete the BoF process before IETF 115 in London. Hope to see you there!

The BoF Presenters:

The BoF Participants, including the chairs:

1 Comment » Posted under Events & IETF & JSON & Privacy & Specifications

Here’s the DPoP presentation that Pieter Kasselman and I gave at the 2022 Identiverse conference:

• Bad actors are stealing your OAuth tokens, giving them control over your information – OAuth DPoP (Demonstration of Proof of Possession) is what we’re doing about it (PowerPoint) (PDF)

A few photographs that workation photographer Brian Campbell took during the presentation follow.

Mike Presenting:

Who is that masked man???

Pieter Presenting:

No Comments » Posted under Events & IETF & OAuth & Specifications

Kristina Yasuda and I have published a new JWK Thumbprint URI draft that addresses the IETF Last Call comments received. Changes made were:

• Clarified the requirement to use registered hash algorithm identifiers.
• Acknowledged IETF Last Call reviewers.

The specification is available at:

• https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/draft-ietf-oauth-jwk-thumbprint-uri-02.html

No Comments » Posted under Claims & Cryptography & IETF & OAuth & OpenID

Brian Campbell has published an updated OAuth DPoP draft addressing the Working Group Last Call (WGLC) comments received. All changes were editorial in nature. The most substantive change was further clarifying that either iat or nonce can be used alone in validating the timeliness of the proof, somewhat deemphasizing jti tracking.

As Brian reminded us during the OAuth Security Workshop today, the name DPoP was inspired by a Deutsche POP poster he saw on the S-Bahn during the March 2019 OAuth Security Workshop in Stuttgart:

He considered it an auspicious sign seeing another Deutsche PoP sign in the Vienna U-Bahn during IETF 113 the same day WGLC was requested!

The specification is available at:

• https://tools.ietf.org/id/draft-ietf-oauth-dpop-08.html

No Comments » Posted under Events & IETF & OAuth & Specifications