Which term describes a decentralized security model for identity authentication?

Which term describes a decentralized security model for identity authentication?

• A. Federation.
• B. Web Of Trust.
• C. Artificial Intelligence.
• D. Deepfake.

Answer: (B)

The principle being tested is a decentralized trust model for identity authentication. In a Web of Trust, trust isn’t placed in a single authority. Instead, individuals sign each other’s public keys, creating a network of interlinked trust relationships. To verify someone’s identity, you rely on signatures and the trust paths from keys you already trust, rather than querying one central certificate authority. This approach suits open systems like email encryption with PGP/GPG, where trust is distributed across many users and key owners.

Federation, by contrast, leans on a group of trusted authorities or identity providers to vouch for users across different domains, which introduces centralized points of trust within the federation. Artificial intelligence and deepfake, while important technologies, do not describe a decentralized identity authentication model.