An identity research organisation

Our mission is to create an identity layer for the internet to keep us all safe.

Our Work

We do research into the three cornerstones of iden tity; personal data, communication and identity itself.

Identity

Identity holds the key to the freedoms and rights humanity holds dear. We research into how identity can be protected, relied upon and used to power trust and protect cornerstones like democracy and education.
Identity is not a product
Identity is not a product
The increasing trend among governmental and corporate entities to conceptualise and manage human identity as a product is fundamentally flawed. The approach is not only morally problematic, but also technically unsound.
Digital Identity is Creepy
Digital Identity is Creepy
Digital identity is more than just a tool; it's a reflection of who we are. The pervasive and often opaque ways in which our identities are managed can feel invasive and, frankly, creepy.
Your security problem is an identity problem
Your security problem is an identity problem
It’s only going to get more difficult for organisations to protect themselves, their customers and their data as the technology the hackers use gets better. In many cases organisations simply aren’t ready for today's challenges, let alone those which are coming

Personal Data

Data has been structured in effectively the same way since 1760. It was a great structure for a card index, but once connected to the internet it has caused real problems. We are exploring why and what can be done about it.
The risks of centralising data
The risks of centralising data
As federated, centralised identity systems have proliferated, identity and personal data have become one and the same placing consumers and organisations at risk.
The end of the seed phrase
The end of the seed phrase
A persons identity is incredibly precious, but because of the way in which technology and identity have evolved, todays systems don’t treat it with the care it deserves.

Communication

We've slowly learned not to send sensitive information like bank details by email, because it is at risk from bad actors. The same rule applies to any identity or credentials. Secure communication is crucial if we are to trust the data we are relying on. We are working on how that reality gets solved at internet scale.
Encrypted, but to whom?
Encrypted, but to whom?
Prime Minister Andy Burnham exchanged messages with someone impersonating Trump's chief of staff. He worked out the impersonation. The problem is that they could reach him at all. The device in a public official's pocket has no identity layer.
Exploring Call Fraud
Exploring Call Fraud
Since Telephone operators were replaced by dial phones, call fraud has been a problem, today it is a huge global industry. We explore how and why this problem remains so difficult to eradicate.

Origins

Self was founded to discover if it was possible to build an identity layer for the Internet.
The founders had spent two decades running into that gap. In 2001 they founded Carrenza, one of the first cloud computing companies in the world, which served banks, central governments in the UK and Europe, and the big technology firms of the day like eBay and PayPal.
The lack of real identity was at the root of all the challenges they faced. Kim Cameron, then chief architect for identity at Microsoft, had set out the same problem in The Seven Laws of Identity. His proposed fixes have dated. The problem has not. It has only deepened.

Team

Dan Sutherland

Dan is a serial entrepreneur who previously founded the cloud service provider, Carrenza, which was acquired by Six Degrees in 2016. Now CEO and co-founder at Self, Dan grew up in London, started his first company at 17 and today is an investor in a number of companies in Technology and BioTech.

Sena Gbeckor-Kove

Sena is a technologist and entrepreneur with extensive startup experience in Europe and Asia. Before working on Self, Sena built the Singaporean encryption and communications startup Ananse.
Now CTO and co-founder at Self, Sena is based in Lisbon

Jason Reid

Jason is a recognised technology leader with over twenty years' experience driving technical strategy, innovation, and product development for public and private sector organisations around the world.
Now COO at Self, previously Jason was CTO at Carrenza alongside Dan.

Blog

Latest updates
Encrypted, but to whom?
Encrypted, but to whom?
Prime Minister Andy Burnham exchanged messages with someone impersonating Trump's chief of staff. He worked out the impersonation. The problem is that they could reach him at all. The device in a public official's pocket has no identity layer.
Secure in Name Only
Secure in Name Only
Exploring how metaphors like “vaults,” “keys,” and “wallets” shape our sense of safety—and the risks that confidence creates.
Are we getting closer to a true identity layer?
Are we getting closer to a true identity layer?
Initiatives like W3C Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) and Verifiable Credentials (VCs) are moving us toward an identity layer
© Copyright Self Group Limited 2019-2026 All Rights Reserved