Media Alert: New IBM Cloud Tool Eliminates the Need for Users to Share Personal Data with Apps

IBM Identity Mixer, now available on Bluemix, enables developers to build apps which protect consumer privacy and combat identity theft

News provided by

IBM

Nov 20, 2015, 09:08 ET

ARMONK, N.Y., Nov. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) Identity Mixer, a new tool to protect a consumer's personally identifiable information, is now generally available on IBM Cloud.

Built on years of IBM research and original algorithms, Identity Mixer is a new cryptography tool allowing developers to use the power of IBM Cloud to easily build breakthrough user privacy technology into their apps, and virtually eliminate the need for users to share personal data with the apps they use.

Accessible to developers on Bluemix, IBM's Cloud platform, Identity Mixer is built on years of cryptography research, and holds the key to helping to reduce identity theft happening as the result of sharing personal data on mobile and web apps. Using algorithms, the tool allows developers to build apps which can authenticate users' identities without collecting personal data, otherwise known as a "zero-knowledge proof."

For example, consider an online streaming movie service app which requires users to verify that they have a paid subscription and that they are not a minor. Traditionally, the user would enter in his or her full date of birth, along with a number of other personal details which aren't necessary, such as first and last name, location, etc.

Using Identity Mixer, however, the app can simply verify the authenticity of the user's claims of being above a certain age and having a subscription - without having to collect any other details or to interact. Because no other personally identifiable data is exchanged, companies do not have the burden of protecting and securing this data, and users no longer have the risk of their data being exposed to malicious third parties.

Built by scientists at IBM's Research facilities in Zurich, Switzerland, Identity Mixer authenticates users by asking them to provide a public key. Each user has a single secret key which corresponds with multiple public keys, or identities. Each transaction a user makes receives a different public key and leaves no privacy "breadcrumbs."

A webinar on November 20, 2015 at 4:00 pm CET (10:00 am EDT) will feature IBM cryptographers who will demonstrate how Identity Mixer works on Bluemix and respond to participants' questions. Visit http://www.zurich.ibm.com/idemixwebinar to register.

For more information on IBM Identity Mixer, view a short video or visit https://idemixdemo.mybluemix.net/. Follow the conversation on Twitter using #identitymixer.

IBM launched Bluemix with a $1 billion investment in 2014, growing rapidly to become the largest Cloud Foundry deployment in the world. The open-standards-based Bluemix catalog includes over 120 tools and services spanning categories of big data, mobile, Watson, analytics, integration, DevOps, security and Internet of Things. IBM Bluemix was recently shown to be the "developers' choice" of PaaS, and is growing 10-times faster than the overall PaaS market, according to research firm ESG.

Contact:
Erin Lehr
212-671-9363
[email protected]

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKK1PxGu6Fo
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO

SOURCE IBM