Decentralized Identity Management: Mitigating Data Breaches using Blockchain-based Self-Sovereign Identity.
Venkata Krishna Bharadwaj Parasaram
Abstract
Self-sovereign identity models and decentralized, blockchain-based identity management can prevent digital ecosystem data breaches and misuse, the study finds. As digital services proliferate and personal data becomes more valuable, central database-based identity systems expose users to single-point failures, unauthorized access, identity theft, and large-scale breaches. This paper analyzes how decentralized IDs, verifiable credentials, and cryptographic verification reduce middlemen, enable selective disclosure, and promote identity governance privacy. Important academic, industrial, and technical contributions show that blockchain anchors credentials in distributed ledgers rather than institutional repositories, improving authentication, traceability, and tamper resistance while limiting undesired access. Immutable audit trails, user-controlled credentials, and reduced central authority dependency have been touted, but empirical performance data, scalability, interoperability, and comparative evaluations of public and permissioned blockchain environments are lacking. These findings explain self-sovereign identity architecture, which lets trusted authority issue credentials but users store and control them directly through digital wallets utilizing cryptographic proofs instead of database lookups. Users can control or withdraw data sharing while maintaining identity. Transparency, limited disclosure, and contextual data presentation prevent cross-platform tracking and increase user autonomy. The research shows how zero-knowledge proofs and predicate-based validation verify credentials without disclosing sensitive data, protecting privacy. Birthdates and locations are not needed to verify age- and location-based limits. SSI master key-derived domain-specific identities reduce correlation hazards and prevent service surveillance. Consent-based sharing, selective disclosure, and cryptographic compartmentalization decrease data collection and profiling. Decentralised blockchain verification maintains credentials usable when the issuer is offline, preventing service disruptions and third-party participation.