REMME – REM ICO Digital Public Key Infrastructure Authenication?

Remme aims to use blockchain technology to create a future without password authentication. Find out how it works today in our review.

What is Remme?

Remme is a platform designed to secure access of digital identities. The technology revolves around distributed public key infrastructure (PKI) combined with a set of decentralized apps (DApps). Together, these technologies – built on the bitcoin protocol – will provide secure, password-free access to virtually anything.

The token pre-sale for REM tokens ends on December 25, followed by an ICO in Q1 2018.

What Problems Does Remme Seek to Solve?

Obviously, today’s methods of password-based authentication aren’t perfect. Anyone can type a word into a computer to authorize a login. If an attacker steals your password, that attacker gains access to all of your data. Some users use the same password for multiple services, and some hackers can “brute force” or simply guess their way into an account.

Remme’s whitepaper mentions how password managers are used to solve this problem. This software provides ultra-secure storage for passwords. Two factor authentication (2FA) systems also protect your logins more effectively than a single password. The whitepaper also mentions hardware tokens, one-time passwords (sent via SMS or others), SSL/TLS certificates, and other authorization methods.

The problem with all of these methods is that the entire framework is tied to trust in the root and affiliated certification centers. If one link in the chain is untrusted or compromised, the entire system loses its efficiency. The critical point is the trusted certification authority and centralized architecture.

That’s where Remme wants to change things. It wants to solve problems like:

• Needing to trust the centralized certification authority (CA)
• CA keys being compromised
• Fake certificate issuance
• Issuance of “hidden” certificates that try to intercept and redirect connections

How Does Remme Work?

Remme solve the problems in today’s centralized PKI systems. It solves these problems using the bitcoin protocol, which is used for the following two functions:

Certificate Revocation Management:

Each certificate is bound with an output of a certain bitcoin transaction. The certificate is considered invalid when this output is spent.

Certificate Authentication:

Each certificate stores a digital signature of a string (signed by the certificate holder), defined by the Remme standard and the bitcoin address of the certificate holder. When the user possesses this, the certificate data can be used to form the string mentioned above, and to validate the signature using the given bitcoin address.

Here’s how the process works when broken down into a step by step process:

1. Generate a key pair
2. Create a bitcoin transaction to be used for revocation management
3. Create a certificate and fill its subject fields based on Remme specifications
4. Create a canary string
5. Sign the canary string with the signmessage function
6. Add the canary string to the corresponding certificate field
7. Sign the certificate

Meanwhile, you can check the certificate using the following steps:

1. Fetch the certificate
2. Ensure that the associated transaction output is unspent (i.e. the certificate is valid)
3. Form the canary string from the certificate data
4. Check the signature of the canary string included to the certificate using bitcoin’s verifymessage function

Essentially, Remme takes advantage of the bitcoin protocol for identity authentication. The platform uses the bitcoin protocol’s existing functions to provide secure authentication.

This system leads to the creation of decentralized apps built on the Remme blockchain. Those apps could include things like:

Remme WebAuth:

White label authentication that allows users to log into websites without a password.

Remme Enterprise:

Provides secure access to internal corporate systems, like Microsoft Active Directory and SCADA.

Remme for IoT:

Remme can authorize device-to-device communication. The whitepaper specifically mentions a focus on the automotive sector and smart cities.

Remme SDK:

The developers kit can provide access to the PKI protocol, allowing developers to create their own decentralized apps on the Remme blockchain.

How Do REM Tokens Work?

Remme tokens (REM) are used for all internal operations within the Remme ecosystem, including all of the following:

• Initializing a certificate creation process (a certain number of tokens get blocked for revocation transactions)
• Enabling a certificate revocation process
• Establishing a node
• Pay fees for transferring Remme tokens between users on the Remme blockchain
• Pay fees for cross-blockchain token transfers

The Remme Token Sale

There’s a total supply of 1 billion REM tokens. The token pre-sale has a soft cap of $480,000 and a hard cap of $3 million, while the main public sale (including the pre-sale) has a hard cap of $20 million.

Tokens are set at a rate of 1 REM = $0.04 USD. The tokens are ERC20 tokens built on the Ethereum blockchain. The Remme token sale began with a pre-sale from December 4 to December 25. The general crowdsale is scheduled for Q1 2018, although specific dates have not yet been announced.

Of the total supply, 50% of tokens are available for sale (ICO and pre-sale). The remaining tokens are going to the team and founders (20%), partners and advisors (20%), and a reserve fund (10%).

Who’s Behind Remme?

The team behind Remme first formed in Q4 2015, with active development taking place throughout 2016 and 2017. In Q2 2017, the team won the Blockchain Intensive Hackathon by Microsoft. In Q3, they released the Remme whitepaper and announced the pilot program for 2018.

The team was motivated to launch Remme in 2015 after a series of cyberattacks that affected major Ukrainian companies. The team believed they could use blockchain to solve these authentication issues.

Remme is led by founder and CEO Alex Momot. Other key members include Kate Pospelova (CMO and Co-Founder), Roman Kravchenko (CTO), and Jan Keil (CBDO).

REMME Conclusion

REMME wants to use blockchain technology to create a secure, password-free future. The company’s crowdsale for REM tokens is underway throughout Q1 2018.

To learn more about Remme and how it works, visit online today at Remme.io