DESIGNING A BLOCKCHAIN-ENABLED AND SECURED NATIONAL e-ID SYSTEM MODEL FOR ETHIOPIA

Abstract

As humanity progresses through the Digital Age, our lives are becoming increasingly composed of offline and online activities. The widespread adoption of digital transformation and the development of new electronic identification technologies have resulted in the development of a growing trend toward digital identity. In order to access digital government services and fully participate in the digital economy in our increasingly digital world, every citizen must have a valid digital identity. As a result, identity management is a security discipline that allows the appropriate individuals to access the appropriate resources at the appropriate times and for the appropriate reasons. This research work proposes to design a Secured Ethiopian National Electronic Identity (e-ID) System Model using the convergence of Blockchain technology, Networking concepts of Smart cards, Biometry (citizen authentication), and traditional physical security (document authentication). The new system of citizen ID is aimed to overcome the security issues of the currently used Identity Documents. The Blockchain is a distributed database and a decentralized transaction data technology, and now researchers are exploring it in other domains as well. This research is an effort to resolve the identity management concerns such as security, privacy, trust, and better usability. The significance of blockchain-based identity management is advanced in the internet age. By using a mix of both exploratory and applied research design specifications and adopting a design science research method with a qualitative and quantitative data analysis approach, this research investigates the deficiencies and vulnerabilities of traditional identity systems and explores the potential benefits of employing Blockchain technology for better efficiency in identity systems. The research analyzed the most advanced identity management systems such as uPort, Sovrin, and ShoCard. Finally, the researchers designed a Blockchain-based and Secured National Electronic Identity (BBNID) System Model for Ethiopia and evaluate it by stakeholders' acceptance test which resulted 72.9% on selected parameters to improve the efficiency of identity management systems.