Petname systems are naming systems that claim to possess all three naming properties of
Zooko's triangle
Zooko's triangle is a trilemma of three properties that some people consider desirable for names of participants in a network protocol:
* ''Human-meaningful:'' Meaningful and memorable (low-entropy) names are provided to the users.
* ''Secure:'' ...
- global, secure, and memorable.
Software that uses such a system can satisfy all three requirements. Such systems can be used to enhance security, such as preventing
phishing
Phishing is a type of social engineering where an attacker sends a fraudulent (e.g., spoofed, fake, or otherwise deceptive) message designed to trick a person into revealing sensitive information to the attacker or to deploy malicious softwar ...
attacks.
Unlike traditional identity systems, which focus on the service provider, Petname systems are
decentralized
Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group.
Conce ...
and designed to facilitate the needs of the enduser as they interact with multiple services.
History
Though the Petname model was formally described in 2005 by Mark Stiegler, the potential of the system was discovered by several people successively.
Examples
* ''
The GNU Name System (GNS)'' – a decentralized alternative to
DNS
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers, services, and other resources in the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information with domain names assigned to ...
based on the principle of a petname system
* ''CapDesk'' – a distributed desktop environment
* ''Petname Tool'' (discontinued browser extension) – There was a browser
extension
Extension, extend or extended may refer to:
Mathematics
Logic or set theory
* Axiom of extensionality
* Extensible cardinal
* Extension (model theory)
* Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate
* E ...
available for
Firefox
Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current and ...
called Petname Tool that allowed pet names to be assigned to secure websites. Use of this extension could help prevent phishing attacks.
PetName Markup Language
The ''PetName Markup Language'' (''PNML'') is a proposal for embedding Petname information into other systems using a custom markup language.
[
PNML consists of two tags:
*]pet-name-string
*stringified-cryptographic-key
References
External links
Petname Site
Petnames: A humane approach to secure, decentralized naming
Computer security software
Secure communication
Free Firefox legacy extensions
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