Identity based encryption: Progress and challenges

Identity based cryptography is currently among the most active areas of research in cryptography. In this article we discuss identity based encryption (IBE) which has the potential for widespread real world adoption and has in fact already been deployed commercially. We will discuss the many advantages and disadvantages of IBE and briefly introduce various schemes that have been proposed in the literature. We discuss the real world impact of IBE and highlight some issues which we think will become more pertinent as IBE and related technologies become more well known and widely deployed.