Towards Reliable Reputation and Trust Management in Swarm Computing using SSI-enabled Smart Contracts

Nowadays, decentralized orchestration platforms are imperative for coping with the dynamicity of the Cloud-to-Edge continuum. Such platforms will be the main enablers for managing cloud native applications in the continuum, but at the same time, they necessitate robust trust and reputation management. Traditional centralized identity management approaches do not meet the required trust, security, and scalability requirements. To address this gap, we propose a novel Identity Management System (IMS) that leverages Blockchain (BC) technology for transparency and immutability, together with Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) protocols for decentralized identity and reputation handling. Our system enables participants to self-assert their identities and maintain verifiable reputation scores based on their contributions and interactions within a decentralized orchestration platform (such as Swarmchestrate). We present a proof-of-concept smart contract implementation that registers decentralized identifiers (DIDs), supports off-chain credential revocation, and integrates a streamlined reputation model. Additionally, we conduct a preliminary security analysis using Slither to validate the core contract logic. Although comprehensive performance evaluations remain part of future work, our initial findings suggest that this IMS provides a secure and trust-enhanced foundation for decentralized identity management, making it a key component for large-scale Cloud-to-Edge orchestration.