Slide 11
Slide 11 text
Problem: In Detail
In a pre-quantum world, standard elliptic-curve cryptography (Ed25519/x25519), with a
reasonable source of entropy (pseudo/randomness), not only can protect data through
encryption, but serve as a sufficiently strong source of global identity uniqueness (“your
public-key is your ID”); chances of independent random generations of the same keypair
are extraordinarily low.
The random IV/seed for keypair generation is all that must be preserved, which is 32 bytes (256
bits) long. But no user will remember or preserve such a long/opaque value.
This master IV/seed could be protected through symmetric encryption, with a separate key
that’s derived from a user provided “master password”. But these are weak/forgettable.
Crypto/Blockchain solutions “solve this” with BIP-39, giving users a 12-word or 24-word list of
common words (computed from the IV/seed), which is a little easier to preserve.
But there’s still a chicken-and-the-egg problem: since it’s too long/hard to remember, where
does a “master password” get stored, and how is it protected?