Re: proofs for fragments of JSON-LD documents

When a Verifiable Credential use case (which may require one or more
Verifiable Credentials, depending on the answer to this question)
requires different issuers to sign the matter at hand, what is the
appropriate method of presentation?



On Sat, Nov 7, 2020 at 7:28 PM Manu Sporny <msporny@digitalbazaar.com> wrote:
>
> On 11/5/20 10:35 AM, Giuseppe Tropea wrote:
> > In other words, would it be desirable to specify a way for the
> > algorithms to natively operate on portions of JSON-LD documents vs.
> > the whole?
>
> No, absolutely not -- this is a really dangerous idea, please don't ever
> do it. :)
>
> If you can help it, you never want to digitally sign just a subset of
> information. Linked Data Security was designed to avoid this mistake on
> purpose.
>
> The issue with signing subsets of information in an otherwise digitally
> signed document is that a significant number of developers then go on to
> assume that /everything/ is signed, when it is not.
>
> Linked Data Security digitally signs everything, both the message and
> *all* of the signing parameters. Don't want something signed? Tough, you
> can't do it -- because it will lead to security vulnerabilities.
>
> The correct approach is to verify signatures for all of the pieces of
> information you have and then merge everything together (which is one of
> the things that Linked Data is designed to do -- easy merging).
>
> It is possible to create an encapsulating JSON-LD container that isn't
> signed, but even then, important that you avoid that if you can.
>
> Hope that helps. :)
>
> -- manu
>
> --
> Manu Sporny - https://www.linkedin.com/in/manusporny/
> Founder/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc.
> blog: Veres One Decentralized Identifier Blockchain Launches
> https://tinyurl.com/veres-one-launches
>

Received on Tuesday, 17 November 2020 18:55:40 UTC