U-Prove is a free and open-source[1] technology and accompanying software development kit[2] for user-centric identity management. The underlying cryptographic protocols were designed by Dr. Stefan Brands[3] and further developed by Credentica and, subsequently, Microsoft.[4] The technology was developed to allow internet users to disclose only the minimum amount of personal data when making electronic transactions as a way to reduce the likelihood of privacy violations.[5]
U-Prove enables application developers to reconcile seemingly conflicting security and privacy objectives (including anonymity), and allows for digital identity claims to be efficiently tied to the use of tamper-resistant devices such as smart cards. Application areas of particular interest include cross-domain enterprise identity and access management, e-government SSO and data sharing, electronic health records, anonymous electronic voting, policy-based digital rights management, social networking data portability, and electronic payments.
In 2008, Microsoft committed to opening up the U-Prove technology.[1] As the first step, in March 2010 the company released a cryptographic specification and open-source API implementation code for part of the U-Prove technology as a Community Technology Preview under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise.[6] Since then, several extensions have been released under the same terms and the technology has been tested in real-life applications.
In 2010, the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) honored U-Prove with the 2010 Privacy Innovation Award for Technology.[7][8]
Microsoft also won the in European Identity Award in the Best Innovation category for U-Prove at the European Identity Conference 2010.[9]
The U-Prove Crypto SDK for C# is licensed under Apache License 2.0 and the source code is available on GitHub.[10]
Microsoft also provides a JavaScript SDK that implements the client-side of the U-Prove Cryptographic Specification.[11]
