Linux Foundation Training Announces a Free Online Course-Developing Blockchain-Based Identity Applications

SAN FRANCISCO, March 4, 2020 – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, today announced enrollment is now open for a new professional certificate program – Developing Blockchain-Based Identity Applications. This program, offered through the edX training platform, is geared towards developers interested in building and deploying applications using the new “self-sovereign” paradigm for digital identity. It explores the possibilities for issuing and managing secure digital identities and credentials offered by Hyperledger Indy, Aries, and Ursa, for building applications on a solid digital foundation of trust. The program will also do a deep-dive into Hyperledger Aries, teaching learners how to create production-ready applications by developing code for issuing and verifying credentials with their own Aries agent.

“Managing and securing identity information is one of the most challenging problems of the digital age,” said Brian Behlendorf, Executive Director, Hyperledger. “With the capacity to distribute the control of information and authority, blockchain technologies can rewrite the rules for identity management. Hyperledger Indy, Aries, and Ursa, are the building blocks our global community has developed to bring self-sovereign identity to market. Getting up to speed on these technologies through this professional certification program will help you shape the future on this important front.”

Any identity-related data available online can be subject to theft. Breach Level Index says that over 5,880,000 records are stolen every day. The 2019 MidYear QuickView Data Breach Report shows that reported breaches in the first half of 2019 were up 54% compared to midyear 2018 (over 4.1 billion records exposed), with web being the number one breach type for records exposed, and hacking being the number one breach type for incidents. Blockchain-based identity management is revolutionizing this space. The tools, libraries, and reusable components that come with the three open-source Hyperledger projects, Aries, Indy, and Ursa, provide a foundation for distributed applications built on authentic data using a distributed ledger, purpose-built for decentralized identity.

In this program comprised of two online, self-paced courses, Introduction to Hyperledger Sovereign Identity Blockchain Solutions: Indy, Aries & Ursa (LFS172x) and Becoming a Hyperledger Aries Developers (LFS173x), students can expect to learn to:

• Understand the problems with existing Internet identity/trust mechanisms today and learn how a distributed ledger, such as Hyperledger Indy, can be used for identity.
• Discuss the purpose, scope, and relationship between Aries, Indy, and, Ursa and understand how these open-source blockchain technologies provide reliable self-sovereign identity solutions that add a necessary layer of trust to the Internet.
• Understand the Aries architecture and its components, as well as the DIDComm protocol for peer-to-peer messages.
• Deploy instances of Aries agents and establish a connection between two or more Aries agents.
• Create from scratch or extend Aries agents to add business logic and understand the possibilities available through the implementation of Aries agents.

Introduction to Hyperledger Sovereign Identity Blockchain Solutions: Indy, Aries & Ursa (LFS172x) is addressed to a wide-ranging audience, walking the line between business and technology. The course explores how Hyperledger Aries, Indy, and Ursa add a necessary layer of trust to the Internet by creating and using digital identities rooted on blockchains or other distributed ledgers.

Becoming a Hyperledger Aries Developer (LFS173x) focuses on building applications on top of Hyperledger Aries components, the area where Self-Sovereign Identity Application Developers can have the most impact.

Students may register for the professional certificate program for a price of $398. Students can also audit for free each of the two courses for 7 weeks, or they may add a verified certificate for individual courses for $199. 

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world’s top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and industry adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training, and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.

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Media Contact:

Clyde Seepersad
The Linux Foundation
404-964-6973
cseepersad@linuxfoundation.org