A Taxonomy of Challenges for Self-Sovereign Identity Systems

Creating and utilizing digital identities are fundamental steps towards accessing online services. In order to facilitate the management of user identities, the concept of identity management has been introduced. Various systems and protocols have been developed to manage online identities. However, these systems are provider-centric, focusing on aiding providers in managing their user bases. As a result, users often have limited control over their identity data and remain unaware of how centralized identity providers use or potentially misuse their data. Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) has emerged as a new paradigm in the digital identity management landscape, aiming to empower users by allowing them greater control over their identity data. Although SSI is a relatively new domain, there have been numerous efforts, primarily from the industry, to introduce SSI standards, protocols, and systems, with multiple options in each category. Researchers eager to contribute to the SSI domain might find it challenging to understand the interconnections among these components. Notably, the SSI domain faces several challenges, as highlighted in various research works. These challenges must be addressed before SSI can achieve widespread adoption. This article presents a comprehensive systematic literature review of SSI, offers a detailed taxonomy, and identifies and analyzes the open challenges in SSI.