RevokeSSL: An Independent Revocation Service using the Bitcoin Blockchain

Christopher Allen and Matthew Schutte will present on RevokeSSL (https://github.com/ChristopherA/revocable-self-signed-tls-certificates-hack).

Up until now, users have had poor ability to quickly and reliably check whether an SSL Security Certificate has been revoked. The methods that have been used to communicate revocations to date (CRL's and OCSP) are dependent on the survival and integrity of a single party (the issuing Certificate Authority), work only in limited contexts, are often unreliable or unavailable, and can be costly.

RevokeSSL uses a simple, elegant structure that leverages the speed and integrity of a blockchain (currently using Bitcoin) to create an Independent channel for revocation of a claim. Initially, they are focusing narrowly on enabling Server Professionals to revoke Self-Signed Certificates. However, they see growth opportunities in form of revocation services for other forms of SSL certificates (DV, OV & EV Certificates), SSH Keys, attribute certificates and more.

Christopher Allen is a technologist and entrepreneur with a long history of work in the privacy and security fields. As the founder of Consensus Development, he led and co-authored the IETF-TLS (SSL 3.0) standard and sold the first commercial SSL toolkits. He's also the former CTO of the cryptographic security company Certicom (now part of Blackberry). Recently he was VP of Developer Relations for the secure smartphone company Blackphone, building on his experience with mobile software industry.

He has produced a number of iOS apps, spoken at conferences, and organizes developer hackathons at such events as iOSDevCamp. Christopher also teaches Technology Leadership in the MBA in Sustainable Systems program at Bainbridge Graduate Institute at Pinchot University, and blogs at www.LifeWithAlacrity.com (http://www.lifewithalacrity.com/) .

Matthew Schutte is a political theorist and entrepreneur who focuses on trust, collaboration and the use of information systems to improve the ways that communities regulate themselves. He is a Berkeley law school graduate, a big wave surfer and the co-founder of caLabs, an organization that focuses on empowering individuals and fostering collaboration to enable companies and communities to thrive. He blogs at matthewschutte.com (http://matthewschutte.com/).