Web of Trust — Enabling Autonomous Operations with Secure Data-Access at Scale

The Problem

Modern digital ecosystems increasingly rely on AI agents that require access to sensitive contextual data to deliver personalized experiences. However, three fundamental challenges may represent significant obstacles for their secure operation at scale.

1. Scalable Dynamic Data-Access: Agents may dynamically encounter new data sources during operation based on evolving processing needs, making pre-established relationships impractical.

2. On-the-Fly Trust Verification: Without previous knowledge about an agent’s true identity, data providers must independently verify their legitimacy and trustworthiness programmatically and in real-time prior to authorizing data access.

3. Multi-Entity Data-Processing Transparency: Autonomous operations typically involve multiple entities working together, yet users have no visibility into the full processing chain, and thus cannot grant granular permissions to each participant nor trace accountability across the entities using their data.

The Solution

The Web of Trust (WoT) system creates a comprehensive framework for managing trust, relationships, consent, and data access. WoT operates as a trusted intermediary extending existing identity standards (X.509, OAuth2/OIDC) to support dynamic and secure autonomous operations through: (1) upfront centralized verification of agent trustworthiness, (2) transparent multi-party relationship management, (3) granular consent control, and (4) cryptographically accountable data access orchestration.

How It Works

WoT enables secure autonomous operations through four interconnected phases:

1. Trust Establishment: Organizations undergo identity verification through external trust anchors (X.509 Certificate Chains, OpenID Federation) or WoT-orchestrated processes, then create delegated entities (agents, applications, services) that inherit organizational trust. Users must register strong FIDO2/WebAuthn credentials proving the same person returns for each access; identity verification is optional but enables higher-trust relationships.

2. Relationship Formation: Organizations and users form explicit relationships within WoT with defined scopes, constraints, and cryptographic accountability. Before approving relationships, WoT verifies that requested data access permissions align with the trust levels established during registration.

3. Consent Formulation: WoT adds an extra layer of granular consent that provides detailed information about which specific entities access what data, under what conditions, and with evidence of trustworthiness. The IdP layer handles standard OAuth2 authorization for actual data access.

4. Data Discovery & Access Authorization: WoT enables entities to discover available data types and, upon request, securely delivers authorized data after validating credentials and consent compliance. All access is cryptographically logged.

Key Participants

Agent: Autonomous software entity operating with varying degrees of independence on behalf of a cryptographically linked organization to provide services to users. Agents make context-driven decisions supported by access to data from multiple sources.

User: Individual entity who owns personal data and establishes relationships with agents requiring data access. Users authenticate using FIDO2/WebAuthn credentials providing cryptographic proof of identity bound to a consent acceptance.

Data Provider: External entity that hosts or controls user data that agents wish to access. Data Providers enforce access control mechanisms before sharing any data.

Value Proposition

WoT solves the three interconnected challenges by enabling:

• Dynamic trust establishment allowing agents to access new data sources without pre-registration with data providers
• Real-time verification freeing data providers from establishing direct relationships with every agent and from the burden to programmatically verify entity legitimacy on-the-fly
• Transparent multi-entity coordination giving users visibility into the complete data processing chain, granular control over data sharing, and ability to review access history and revoke permissions at any time
• Cryptographic accountability throughout the data lifecycle ensuring non-repudiation and auditability
• User sovereignty maintaining user control over data and digital relationships while enabling autonomous operations at scale

The system uniquely addresses the needs of AI agents and autonomous entities while maintaining compatibility with existing identity standards, enabling agents to conduct secure data operations at scale, serving millions of users across thousands of data providers.