How Identity Works
From a Signature to a Passkey
Shikhar Singh
Founder & Chairman · KedByte Technologies Private Limited
- Chapters
- 60Chapters
- Parts
- 5Parts
- Words
- 769KWords
- Print pages
- 1,403Print pages
Every section is the same six blocks
The book explains each idea four times in plain words, then once for engineers, then names the terms. The pattern repeats for all 60 chapters, so you always know where you are.
| # | Block | What it gives you |
|---|
The single pass
Read everything, in order, from Chapter 1. It starts with electricity in a wire and assumes nothing.
The double pass
Read only the blocks marked PLAIN, front to back, and you will understand the whole of computing. Then return for the blocks marked TECHNICAL.
The reference
Chapter 59 is the numbers, command cheat sheets and the diagnostic decision trees. Chapter 60 is the timeline and the glossary.
From a grain of sand to a language model
Nine parts, 60 chapters. Open any part to see its chapters, or start at the beginning and keep going.
IWhat Identity IsIdentifiers, attributes and claims. What an identity record is, how one gets created, and why one person, one row is the hardest promise in software.Chapters 1–11/Volume 1
IIProving It Is YouSecrets, codes, bodies and keys. From the first password in 1961 to the passkey in your phone, and what each of them actually proves.Chapters 12–24/Volume 2
IIIThe Certificate and the SignatureHow a stranger's key becomes trustworthy. Certificates, chains, revocation, transparency, and what a signature means in law.Chapters 25–35/Volume 3
IVIdentity Between SystemsSessions, tokens, delegation and federation. How one system tells another who you are without either of them lying.Chapters 36–47/Volume 4
VIdentity, Society and the LawAssurance, regulation, national schemes and failure. The perishable volume, dated deliberately so it can be revised on its own.Chapters 48–60/Volume 5
- 48How Sure Are You
- 49Know Your Customer
- 50A Billion People and One Number
- 51Europe's Wallet
- 52Britain's Approach
- 53Credentials You Carry
- 54Proving How Old You Are
- 55Identity and Privacy Law
- 56The Right Not to Be Identified
- 57When Identity Is Stolen
- 58Breaches That Taught Us Something
- 59Designing an Identity System
- 60What Breaks and What It Costs
The complete edition, free
1,403 pages as a single PDF, or five volumes if you only want one part. Chapter numbers are identical in every edition, so a cross-reference means the same thing wherever you read it.