Decentralization stands to change the paradigm of identity management. Much hype has been made over the promise of Self Sovereign Identity to empower individuals in the management of their personal data and relieve corporations of the burden of hosting and securing that data. But with the persistence of data breaches, if my identifying features are potentially compromised, how can I authenticate securely? As a company in the business of trust, could my costs of doing business be reduced dramatically if managing customer identities was no longer a requirement? Is my business model threatened or enabled with less customer data? Should national governments play a role in managing citizen identities, or does the involvement of a central authority negate the key tenets of self-sovereign? This session will provide a market perspective on the progress of decentralized identity management, with a view to commercialization efforts, public sector adoption, challenges faced and opportunities for the future.

Bio: Ira Goldstein is the Chief Operating Officer for Herjavec Group, accountable for operations, strategy, corporate development, and service advancement initiatives globally. He is an authority on cybersecurity solution development for enterprise clients and vendors; Ira also advises on business growth and cybersecurity to public and private sector leaders. He has previously held executive roles in Managed Security Services and Professional Services across the organization. Ira has led complex security programs and projects in a variety of sectors with companies across Canada, the United States and United Kingdom. He is an active member on both corporate and not-for-profit Boards of Directors. Ira is a published thought leader specializing in emerging business trends in cybersecurity, privacy and identity. Ira completed his graduate studies at the London School of Economics.