HiveDevs

Hive Authentication Services - Announcement and Proposal

What if you could authenticate on any website, desktop, or mobile app, just providing your Hive username but no password or private key, from any device?

And how about storing your private keys in one secure place and no longer having to provide them to (d)Apps to log in or sign transactions?

What if you could use your Hive account as you are used to with the Google, Facebook or Twitter button but in a more secure and decentralized way?

I have been working these last months on this revolutionary concept which will finally allow you to have a universal and easy-to-use authentication solution.

Introducing Hive Authentication Services

What are Hive Authentication Services?

The Hive Authentication Services (HAS) provide a way for any applications, (either web, desktop or mobile) to easily authenticate users, and additionally sign and broadcast transactions to the Hive blockchain, without asking them to provide any password or private key.

How does it work?

Note: The service description from here will deliberately disregard many technical details in order to keep a comprehensible reading for the layman. More in-depth information is available in the Documentation.

The Hive Authentication Services (HAS) act as a bridge between any Application (App) supporting the HAS protocol, any Private Key Storage Application (PKSA) supporting the HAS protocol and their respective users.

Any application can rely on HAS to authenticate users. It doesn't need to be a "Hive application", except if it plans to sign and broadcast transactions.

In most cases, the Private Key Storage Application (PKSA) is simply your preferred Hive Wallet application installed on your mobile

1. Authentication

When a user wants to login into an application, they will provide their Hive username.

When the user hit the sign-in button, the App will send an authentication request to the HAS and ask the user to start their favorite Private Key Storage Application (PKSA), typically an app installed on your mobile (like Hive Keychain for Mobile)

The user then opens their wallet and scans the QR code. Alternatively, if the app the user wants to sign in is a mobile app, the latest can use deep linking to bypass QR code display and trigger your device to install a wallet app or open it if already installed.

If your wallet stores the keys of the account that want to sign in to, it will ask for approval or denial of the authentication request by the user.

_{A quick and dirty handmade mockup}

If the user approves the authentication request, the App will be informed by the HAS that the user has successfully authentication and that it can proceed with the user sign-in.

The application has 100% certainty that the account exists and that whoever signs in owns the account's private keys.

Likewise, the user has explicitly identified and approved the application for further interaction.

At this moment, the application session and the users are now registered with the HAS and can communicate with each other through a secure encrypted channel.

2. Signing and Broadcasting Transactions

Once an account is authenticated against an application, the latest can request the user to sign and broadcast transactions.

The user has the guarantee that the transaction requests come from the application with which he has just authenticated because both the app and the user have created a strong link through the authentication process and the HAS will filter out any transaction request from an unapproved application.

Similar to authentication, users will be able to approve or reject each transaction request that the approved applications will submit to them for signature.

Why use Hive Authentication Services?

As a Hive user You do not want to provide your Private Keys to Web, Desktop or Mobile apps but still want to be able to use them. However, it happens that you store your Private Keys in a trusted application (which you may have audited), like Hive Keychain, and wish you didn't have to enter them elsewhere.
As a Hive Application developer Implementing a secure solution for authentication (signing-in users), storing and protecting users' credentials, and broadcasting signed transactions to the Hive blockchain (providing access to users' private keys) can take significant effort. You must make sure to follow best practices and standards, and keep your implementation safe and up to date.
By implementing Hive Authentication Services support into your application, all you have to do is to ask for a username, period!
As a Private Keys Storage Application developer While you are good at securing the data you store, i.e. accounts Private Keys, implementing cross-processes, cross-applications and cross-platforms secure communication channels can be cumbersome and hard to maintain.
Integrating HAS into your Private Keys Storage Application will instantly turn it into a 2FA solution for any HAS compatible Hive Applications.

HAS is an out-of-the-box infrastructure that acts as middleware and facilitates the interactions between any applications and their users as long as they have a Hive account.

No longer will you have to put up with having a Facebook, Twitter or Gmail account, having to provide them with private information and being tracked for whatever you do.

Request for funding

This funding proposal aims to support an existing project that is way further than the MVP (Minimum Viable Project) stage and should be made publicly available soon^TM.

The HAS infrastructure is deployed and operational. I have already made contact with a few application, front-end and wallet developers, who are currently working on integrating HAS into the solutions they offer.

We have moved step by step, without rushing, because this project touches on the security of user accounts.

However, I am extremely confident since I have now been using it personally for a few weeks.

What's the benefit for Hive?

Hive Authentication Services may become the first fully decentralized authentication service backed by a blockchain. This will allow the concept of "Your account is your key" to become a reality, both for the Hive ecosystem and for the "outside world".

This opens the door to countless possibilities and promises incredible Hive blockchain development potential.

Budget

For this new proposal, we are applying for a daily budget of 325 HBD for a period of 12 months.

What's the funding for?

1. Work done for previous months

development and test of a HAS server
development and test of a HAS PKSA emulator
development and test of a HAS client library
Deployment and cost of existing infrastructure
Drafting of technical documentation for beta testers

2. Work still to be done

There is still a lot of work to be done, in terms of development, support and communication.

support for integration into existing Apps and PKSA
creation of a professional graphic chart
creation of documentation for users
creation of documentation for developers
creation of tutorials and related code examples
implement communication between multiple HAS servers to allow load balancing and failover
improve the redundancy and the scalability of the infrastructure
stress tests
and much more...

3. Regular work

Code maintenance and deployment
Support to users and developers
Documentation maintenance, both for users and developers
Communication and external awareness

4. Infrastructure

The HAS infrastructure is already up and running for months. It is a cornerstone of the project and, as long as we have not developed the redundancy and scalability functionalities mentioned above, proper functioning is essential.

Server(s) + Firewall
Security management and monitoring tools
Performances monitoring tools
domain(s) registration
Backup services

Commitment

All the code produced through this funding will be open-sourced.

Support

I have always been easy to reach, responsive and as helpful as possible. If you are a developer and want to test and implement HAS support into your application, feel free to contact me.

If you have any questions, drop a comment. Support for this service is provided on Discord

Support This Proposal:

Thank you for your support!

Comments · 67

@toofasteddie(77)· 1466d
I thinks it's really a good idea and a huge development for HIVE, supported!!
@antisocialist(75)· 1641d
Can we get an update on how this is going?
@reidenling90(68)· 1727d
I must say is indeed convenient for all . Please make it happened 👍👍
@beerbod(66)· 1733d
you have my support. more power to you @arcange.
@cellard00r(50)· 1734d
That looks like a fantastic proposal, really usefully and needed. Count with my vote.
@cconn(54)· 1761d
This is a great idea! We need some authenticators on here just like our key logins

Would be nifty when our Hive login will be cross platformed & integrated into other services for easy access, like within browsers or certain devices. It just comes down to ownership & security of our accounts.

To have a better grip on our private keys which have control not just for our wallets, but our content we can branch out from the Hive with simplicity, flexibility & security. Kinda like an RFID lets us in a building or Bluetooth connects with our headphones

Thanks for everything you are contributing! All this problem solving will create a better platform for all of us
@wil.metcalfe(62)· 1799d
Well... gotta hand it to you @arcange. This makes a lot of sense and is needed too. I'll vote for this proposal with all of my accounts. I'm just glad to see that there are people, like yourself, working hard to innovate here on Hive. It's my hope that we can make this a better place to human and what your working on here is something that fits the bill.

So thank you. 🙌

I'll also let you know...

I have re-established my witness vote in your direction. I see you as someone willing to connect with the users and your doing a lot to make Hive a user-friendly social environment. Accountability is also something your focused on and I do appreciate the statistics your putting out in visual form. That's really important.

Previously I had removed my witness vote... But I am convinced that you are someone that can be trusted. You are human after all and despite previous shortcomings I think you are a standUP dev with follow through and vision for the blockchain. 🙌

Water under the bridge my friend. 😊

@wil.metcalfe
@felt.buzz(76)· 1800d
This is a great idea. Happy to support it.
@twicejoy(74)· 1802d
That's a great ideas. Something like this is what hive needed. Thanks.
@fionasfavourites(77)· 1802d
This is a fabulous idea. IMO it's a gamechanger and will make blockchain and crypto and places like Hive so much more accessible. Also, if it protects privacy, unlike, well, you know, well,I am in! Thank you @arcange!
@sand126(57)· 1804d

your account is your key

Finally something unique is happening on hive to protect our account from stolen or compromise. HAS is typically act like bridge in between any sites whether its web 2.0 or web 3.0 generation. Dev really developing to present hive in more wider circle where easily we have a choice of decentralised platform to be connected through ecommerce or any other general sites and apps. Well done hive communities for progressing towards huge success.
@captainklaus(66)· 1804d
This is a great proposal! I just try to understand the need for 325 HBD/day, 100k+/year, which is quite a lot. How many people will be working on it on a daily base? How much of the budget is going into 'Work done for previous months'?

Posted Using LeoFinance ^Beta
@atma.love(71)· 1804d
Voted and re-blogged. Thanks for your work.

So, if my understanding is correc, if i wanted to sign into an "outside" account (or a Hive Dapp) which supported HAS, then i could choose to sign in with my atma.love pseudo anonymous account, OR a completely anonymous Hive alt account, so having the choice how much about me i disclose to those viewing my profile in the application which i have signed in to. Make sense?
@jesustiano(71)· 1804d
Good idea, bad moment. Seems like hive could have a grow periot soon if this kind of dapps are up and running, but is our grow just stagnated right now? Splinterlands is booming the grow like nothing else, Is it posible to HAS to work properly with Splinterlands? Basically all games needs and force players to use hivekeychange...
@forykw(71)· 1805d
Fully supported. I am still going through the technical details stuff but overall this is needed for the majority of the HIVE community.

Proven this can scale and stay resilient enough (because it will be another point for attacking the blockchain), I see this making ANY user be able to use ANY hive app, which is a needed tier for the new users that are not used to dealing with the increased security the HIVE Blockchain has in comparison with other single key based ones.

I love those push and approve methodologies (like some 2FA apps have). But there are challenges ahead... I will dive into those on the other post you made.
@wesphilbin(68)· 1805d
@arcange

Thank you for contacting me. You have my support! This is a wonderful creation... and a much needed one I feel! Look forward to seeing how things turn out.

!LUV @tipu curate !WINE
@eniolw(74)· 1805d
Very interesting. It seems to meet the basic criteria for adopting technologies, such as usefulness and ease of use. Plus, it's cheap (free, actually) and can look like fun. You just need to keep working on another key criterion: social influence. I hope your proposal will become popular.
@pundito(70)· 1805d
100% supported! This will be a great step in the right direction @arcange.
@vjap55(68)· 1806d
I'm really impressed you did it again, this is a really cool feature, I'm so excited to see HAS being used to log-in in the common websites and applications Thanks for bringing great stuff to the community
@selfhelp4trolls(76)· 1806d
You make such great apps for Hive, I totally support this, and I don't think the price is beyond what you deserve. I just always worry about these expensive proposals putting a lot of selling pressure (if sold on the market) than buyers can keep up with since we are still a relatively small community. I don't think the price of hive matters that much except that heavy downward price action hurts adoption. No big complaints though, if hive dips I'll be sure to buy it, especially with developments like this.
@soyrosa(75)· 1806d
Super! :D Will vote for your proposal @arcange :-)
@gargi(75)· 1806d
amazing idea.... you are really working hard to achieve this... has i have been struggling to login into peakd.com via hivesigner. But concepts of hive authentication service is super super amazing, thumbs up 👍 for appreciation of your hard.

thankyou so.. much for such a providng amazing service to us.
@manniman(69)· 1806d
Supported, God-Damn you did put a lot of effort into this already. Im-'F-ing'-pressive.
@thomas4711(53)· 1807d
👏🏻 Sounds really cool! Super easy but still super safe login.
@reeta0119(78)· 1807d
This is fantastic and and it will make things way mkt secure and safe. This is very useful for every hive user. Great work
@khan.dayyanz(64)· 1807d
This is what I have been looking for. Voted.
@xoxois(65)· 1807d
Is this key the same thing as Google Authenticator? Maybe for more reliable security in the future.
@charsdesign(66)· 1807d
How interesting. This would save me a lot of headaches when entering any of the dApps. 😎
@jburke.mp4(64)· 1807d
Aye these are the developments I want to see abs I’m here for it
@chrislybear(69)· 1807d
This would be so awesome! I use different devices and interfaces. When switching between the devices this would make things much more easy! I really hope this is going to happen.💪

!PIZZA
@bearbear613(74)· 1807d
awesome!
@elmundodexao(67)· 1807d
Hello @arcange… I have chosen your post about “-Hive Authentication Services - Announcement and Proposal-” for my daily initiative to re-blog - vote and comment… Let's keep working and supporting each other to grow at Hive!...
@urun(69)· 1807d
Is the that not already in keychain mobile with QR code scanning? I brought that up months ago and i thought that was on the To do list :)
@nikkabomb(66)· 1807d
This is so good! Imagine how far Hive can get into and woah I can (in the future) sign in to many apps (given that if those apps are willing to collaborate with Hive).

I usually use the same thing to almost all websites as I don’t like to create new accounts when signing up. Example, my canva account and many more are all “sign in using google”. I can only imagine a very hassle free with HAS infrastructure!

This is so great @arcange and I love to know more about this project!
@bdmillergallery(77)· 1807d
You got my support. Sounds like a great project and we’ll thought out. Actually I have total faith in all your Hive endeavors. I’ll vote for it right now. 😁
@fycee(60)· 1807d
I will definitely support this proposal and will let our core devs in Telos to undergo this process. What I was trying to think about is that Telos TLOS tokens to be incorporated to Hive-engine too.
@mlrequena78(60)· 1807d
good proposal
@ervin-lemark(76)· 1807d
So, instead of talking to Hive Keychain the apps would need to talk to HAS? Is this a simplification of the messaging part? In the end, we would still need Hive Keychain to be installed and populated with our keys.

Anyways, great work.
@pappy(52)· 1807d
Great idea ,keep up the Good Work...
@adedayoolumide(70)· 1807d
This is incredible, only a genius think deep and look forward to what will happen in future. Keep the good work
@harnah12(66)· 1807d
If this project takes place it’s a better future for us.. this is really nice.. following the fact that it will make things easier for us. Good one
@rufans(70)· 1807d
This is incredibly amazing! Back then,I could remember how joyous we all were when different projects came up to help authentication on Steemit[our old home]. Even tho we had to input our PK on these apps, it was far better than inputting our details on those bunch of sites.
Now, this Line of Tech just got evolved with HAS. Dammmmn! Kudos on this.
@tobetada(77)· 1807d
great idea!
@yintercept(65)· 1807d
I am not the greatest fan of oauth. However since oauth is used by many big companies I can't help but ask: What is the primary difference between HAS and Oauth and why is HAS superior?
@condeas(68)· 1807d

All the code produced through this funding will be open-sourced.

For me a very important point.

I like to support this proposal, although it is very expensive. It will add real value to our hive community. Thank you for this great idea and good luck with the proposal and the realization of your idea.
@cryptoandcoffee(85)· 1807d
Something seriously worth doing as security is the key to everything we have on here. This will make life so much easier and straight forward. I really hope this happens as this is building more use cases into Hive.
@emeka4(72)· 1807d
I really like this it's a sign of improvement in this platform. Keep up the good work
@brianoflondon(77)· 1807d
I want this yesterday. Anything I can do to help, test, use, you know where to find me.
@ew-and-patterns(71)· 1807d
Sounds good. I am basically only worried about security holes in the code. I assume that you have been talking a lot with the Keychain guys already, but please make sure that the code will be reviewed by a lot of devs.

I am excited to hear your "technical details" update soon an hopefully weekly progress updates too...

Wishing you the best.
@jonsnow1983(76)· 1807d
My man, te la comiste. This is going to privide us with an extra layer of security and "your keys, your account" will be more valid than ever. I wish you success on this.
@mers(73)· 1807d
This is cool! This is a great proposal and I hope it will materialize soon! It is exciting to be able to have an authentication that´s hassle-free!
@braaiboy(67)· 1807d
GREAT idea! ... I've been pretty slack in supporting any proposals of late, but this one definitely gets my support!
@pizzabot(60)· 1807d
PIZZA! PIZZA! PIZZA! @arcange! The Hive.Pizza team manually curated this post. PIZZA Holders sent $PIZZA tips in this post's comments: @chrislybear_(2/10) tipped @arcange (x1) eii tipped arcange (x1) _{Learn more at https://hive.pizza.}
@eii(72)· 1807d
!PIZZA !BEER
@colombo1845(7)· 1807d
To be honest with you guys, this is a very nice idea. I don't ever regret joining hive. You guys are the best.....
@victoriabsb(75)· 1807d
So i know you did this dumb style yet i need a TLDR LMAO i have to read in parts but it looks AWESOME and helpful!
@l337m45732(75)· 1807d
I love this! The only thing better would be a "Sign in with Hive" or "Sign up with Hive" like you see on things that have a "Sign in with Google" button. I know that's a long shot but still a really cool thought!

Posted Using LeoFinance ^Beta
@acidyo(85)· 1807d
Looks interesting and useful, will read the rest in a bit. Great work!
@eroche(69)· 1807d
Love this idea. Combine this with easy to remember username and hive just gets better and better and easier to use.
@niallon11(77)· 1807d
It sounds good in theory but if it only works with apps that host HAS infrastructure will it be useful for users. This is me asking as a person with no knowledge and who uses hive keychain for access to hive based apps.

Could an app built on telos host the infrastructure and let us sign in their with our hive account? I was talking to a couple of Devs over there previously who were talking about hive collaboration as an example.

If it can work cross chain how would that affect tokens based on those chains say bsc tokens earned gaming or social tokens earned on telos?

I am just trying to figure out the use case on the project. Sounds like a lot of work has gone in so far. Congrats on getting it to this level and hopefully we see it become something very useful for the future of hive and its community.
@poshtoken(88)· 1807d
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@unklebonehead(69)· 1807d
Done! Things like this is what we need more of on Hive!
@aussieninja(70)· 1807d
This is honestly a great idea! The potential integration for my own websites has me buzzing with ideas... this is really exciting!
@taskmaster4450le(81)· 1807d
This is a terrific idea.

I love that the quality of the development is increasing and bigger issues are being addressed.

Everyone needs to take a look at this and what is being presented. First glance, it looks like it will be a real value add to Hive.

I will have to dig further into it but I like what I see so far.

Posted Using LeoFinance ^Beta
@bc-i(56)· 1807d
One question: Is it possible finding out which user is interacting with an application by reading the HIVE blockchain?
@bc-i(56)· 1807d
Gute Idee! Danke auch für die bebildete Erklärung.
@pixresteemer(71)· 1807d

Bang, I did it again... I just rehived your post!

₁₅