Are we self-sovereign PKI yet?
The article discusses the challenges of achieving self-sovereign public key infrastructure (PKI) for individuals. It highlights the limitations of existing messaging and email systems, where trust is often placed in third-party platforms. Despite advancements in encryption and identity verification, users frequently neglect to verify keys, undermining the intended security benefits.
- ▪Signal and other messaging platforms have implemented safety features for key verification, but few users actually utilize them.
- ▪The existing public key infrastructure primarily serves machines rather than individuals, leading to a reliance on custodial relationships.
- ▪Recent incidents, such as Google handing over user data without notification, illustrate the vulnerabilities in current systems.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Are we self-sovereign PKI yet? May 6, 2026 Signal is end-to-end encrypted in the sense that the keys are end-to-end. Whether you got the right keys is a different question, and almost nobody asks it. Safety numbers on Signal exist because, in principle, the server could hand you the wrong key for your contact. You’re supposed to walk through one the first time you talk to someone you care about. In practice, almost nobody does. iMessage shipped the same idea in late 2023, called Contact Key Verification: WhatsApp has a Security Code. Threema rates contacts red, orange, or green depending on how they were added. Matrix has cross-signed device verification with comparison emoji.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Buffrr.
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