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ALPHA RELEASE 0.1.0<a class="hash-link" href="#version-alpha-release-010" title="Direct link to heading">​</a></h3><div class="theme-admonition theme-admonition-important alert alert--info admonition_LlT9"><div class="admonitionHeading_tbUL"><span class="admonitionIcon_kALy"><svg viewBox="0 0 14 16"><path fill-rule="evenodd" d="M7 2.3c3.14 0 5.7 2.56 5.7 5.7s-2.56 5.7-5.7 5.7A5.71 5.71 0 0 1 1.3 8c0-3.14 2.56-5.7 5.7-5.7zM7 1C3.14 1 0 4.14 0 8s3.14 7 7 7 7-3.14 7-7-3.14-7-7-7zm1 3H6v5h2V4zm0 6H6v2h2v-2z"></path></svg></span>The Alpha Release of the D-TA is not for production use.</div><div class="admonitionContent_S0QG"></div></div><h4 class="anchor anchorWithStickyNavbar_LWe7" id="release-schedule">Release Schedule:<a class="hash-link" href="#release-schedule" title="Direct link to heading">​</a></h4><p>Beta Release: Q4 2019</p><p>RC1 Release: Q1 2020</p><h1>Introduction</h1><p>The Apache Milagro (Incubating) Decentralized Trust Authority (D-TA) is a collaborative key management server. It has two primary functions. </p><ol><li><strong>Issue</strong> shares of identity-based Type-3 pairing secrets for initializing zero-knowledge proof multi-factor authentication (ZKP-MFA) networks of clients and authentication servers.</li><li><strong>Safeguards</strong> shares of generic secrets, acting independently but in conjunction with other D-TA nodes, for the benefit of other D-TA nodes. </li></ol><p>In the use case where it issues shares, the D-TA holds nothing except for its Master Secret and acts as a distributed private key generation server. In the use case where it is safeguarding shares of secrets, it is up to the application developer to implement back-end application logic to hold those shares securely. Examples include using Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) via an on-board PKCS#11 implementation to create a realm of key encryption keys, or multi-party computation through BLS signature aggregation.</p><h1>Roles</h1><p>Operators of Decentralized Trust Authorities are segmented into three roles.</p><ol><li><p><strong>Principals</strong> - These entities operate a Milagro D-TA node to securely communicate with other D-TA nodes (Fiduciaries), employing them to issues shares of secrets or safeguard shares of secrets.</p></li><li><p><strong>Fiduciaries</strong> - These entities operate <!-- -->\<!-- -->( 1 + n <!-- -->\<!-- -->) Milagro D-TAs to issue shares of secrets or safeguard shares of secrets.</p></li><li><p><strong>Beneficiaries</strong> - These entities receive shares of secrets from Fiduciaries.</p></li></ol><p>A D-TA facilitates secure and auditable communication between entities and service providers who can keep shares of secret keys safe (Fiduciaries). The D-TA is written in Go and uses REST services based on the GoKit microservices framework. The D-TA uses IPFS to create a shared immutable log of transactions and relies on Milagro-Crypto-C for it&#x27;s crypto. Future release candidates will incorporate Tendermint for consensus protocol.</p><h1>Safeguarding Secrets</h1><p>In order to safeguard a secret using the D-TA a minimum of two roles are required: a client (Principal) and a server (Fiduciary). In addition a third party can be nominated as the ultimate recipient of the secret (Beneficiary). You can run a single D-TA to provide all three roles if you want to see it in action. See the <a href="/docs/dta-details/quickstart">quick start guide</a> for instructions on how to do that.</p><p>This system can be imagined like a &quot;network HSM&quot;. Below is a VERY simplified overview of the process:</p><p><img loading="lazy" alt="Figure 1" src="/assets/images/RC1-Overview-1-df66e3e41d643bfeb8ad2c77160b6d97.png" width="1283" height="720" class="img_ev3q"></p><h2 class="anchor anchorWithStickyNavbar_LWe7" id="milagro-d-ta-security">Milagro D-TA Security<a class="hash-link" href="#milagro-d-ta-security" title="Direct link to heading">​</a></h2><p>The <strong>Seed</strong> is the focus of the system - the D-TA provides a method for Principals to communicate with Fiduciaries who can secure their secrets, it does not prescribe how the securing should be done. The most basic implementation of a D-TA should secure seeds in an HSM using a PKCS#11 interface. </p><p>We hope that many custodial services will adopt the Milagro D-TA as a communication protocol and that they will bring a profusion of security paradigms, by working together we can make a dynamic market place for custodial services and together make the Internet a safer place.</p><h2 class="anchor anchorWithStickyNavbar_LWe7" id="the-milagro-d-ta-communication-protocol">The Milagro D-TA Communication Protocol<a class="hash-link" href="#the-milagro-d-ta-communication-protocol" title="Direct link to heading">​</a></h2><p>The D-TA provides a secure, distributed method of communication between Beneficiaries, Principals and Fiduciaries. It aims to solve the following problems:</p><ol><li><p>How can actors in the system be identified and trusted?</p><p><strong>Answer:</strong> <a href="/docs/dta-details/identity-documents">Identity Documents</a></p></li><li><p>How can records of interactions between actors in the system be trusted and verified?</p><p><strong>Answer:</strong> <a href="/docs/dta-details/encrypted-envelope">Encrypted Envelopes</a> via <a href="/docs/dta-details/ipfs">IPFS</a></p></li><li><p>How can different custodial services provide their own &quot;special security sauce&quot;?</p><p><strong>Answer:</strong> <a href="/docs/dta-details/plugins-overview">Plugins</a></p></li></ol><p>A more complete view of the Milagro D-TA ecosystem is shown below</p><p><img loading="lazy" alt="Figure 1" src="/assets/images/RC1-537ade04d4b9de9c84709b309c333790.png" width="1672" height="1095" class="img_ev3q"></p></div></article><nav class="pagination-nav docusaurus-mt-lg" aria-label="Docs pages navigation"><a class="pagination-nav__link pagination-nav__link--prev" href="/docs/cryptojs/unit64"><div class="pagination-nav__sublabel">Previous</div><div class="pagination-nav__label">UInt64</div></a><a class="pagination-nav__link pagination-nav__link--next" href="/docs/dta-details/quickstart"><div class="pagination-nav__sublabel">Next</div><div class="pagination-nav__label">Quick Start</div></a></nav></div></div><div class="col col--3"><div class="tableOfContents_bqdL thin-scrollbar theme-doc-toc-desktop"><ul class="table-of-contents table-of-contents__left-border"><li><a href="#version-alpha-release-010" class="table-of-contents__link toc-highlight">VERSION: ALPHA RELEASE 0.1.0</a></li><li><a href="#milagro-d-ta-security" class="table-of-contents__link toc-highlight">Milagro D-TA Security</a></li><li><a href="#the-milagro-d-ta-communication-protocol" class="table-of-contents__link toc-highlight">The Milagro D-TA Communication Protocol</a></li></ul></div></div></div></div></main></div></div><footer class="footer"><div class="container container-fluid"><div class="footer__bottom text--center"><div class="margin-bottom--sm"><img src="/img/milagro.svg" class="themedImage_ToTc themedImage--light_HNdA footer__logo"><img src="/img/milagro.svg" class="themedImage_ToTc themedImage--dark_i4oU footer__logo"></div><div class="footer__copyright">Copyright © 2022  The Apache Software Foundation. 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