diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 12f448f..e69de29 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,123 +0,0 @@
-# Changelog
-
-All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
-
-The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
-and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
-
-## [1.0.1] - 2024-04-19
-
-### Fixed
-
-- Fix ruff command to use the now mandatory `check` command for fixing
-
-### Added
-
-## [1.0.0] - 2024-02-13
-
-### Added
-
-- Add versioning to the convention
-- Mention the adherence to Python convention in README.md
-
-### Changed
-
-- Move wiki doc to repo for proper review / versioning
-- Disable pyright bytes type promotions
-
-## [0.2.0] - 2024-02-05
-
-### Changed
-
-- Adopt hatch-openzim for metadata computation
-- Upgrade dependencies
-- Upgrade to Python 3.11 + 3.12 (instead of 3.10 + 3.11)
-- Fix ruff configuration in pyproject.toml to fix depreciation warning in 0.2
-- Fix Pyright ignore rules to adapt to breaking changes in 1.1.348
-
-## [0.1.10] - 2023-12-12
-
-### Fixed
-
-- Add package location to adapt to hatchling 1.19.0
-
-## [0.1.9] - 2023-09-19
-
-### Changed
-
-- Split Docker build for efficiency
-
-## [0.1.8] - 2023-08-17
-
-### Added
-
-- Add sample Docker test configuration for daemon processes
-- Add support for coverage HTML report
-
-### Fixed
-
-- Fix few invoke task arguments and help
-
-
-## [0.1.7] - 2023-08-04
-
-### Changed
-
-- Update dependencies
-
-## [0.1.6] - 2023-07-26
-
-### Changed
-
-- Enhance CI to do more tests regarding Docker and Python build and publish dev image
-
-## [0.1.5] - 2023-07-24
-
-### Changed
-
-- Source Python version from pyproject.toml
-- Build Docker image in CI `Publish.yaml`
-
-### Fixed
-
-- Adjust Ruff rules ignored by default
-- Use `no-cache-dir` for package install
-
-## [0.1.4] - 2023-07-17
-
-### Added
-
-- Added debugpy
-
-## [0.1.3] - 2023-07-14
-
-### Added
-
-- Added a `check` feature in hatch
-- Added pyright wrapper to this feature
-- Installed this feature in `dev` environment
-- Used `check-pyright` task in QA workflow
-
-### Changed
-
-- Use major versions for workflows actions
-- Enable `dev` in default hatch environment
-
-## [0.1.2] - 2023-07-13
-
-### Fixed
-
-- Fix version to comply with SemVer
-
-## [0.1.1] - 2023-07-11
-
-### Added
-
-- Add the scripts to lint's features, otherwise we can use the hatch run lint:*
-
-
-## [0.1.0] - 2023-06-22
-
-### Added
-
-- Initial version
diff --git a/backend/src/backend/db/models.py b/backend/src/backend/db/models.py
index a5dc792..25883c2 100644
--- a/backend/src/backend/db/models.py
+++ b/backend/src/backend/db/models.py
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@
 from ipaddress import IPv4Address
 from uuid import UUID
 
-from sqlalchemy import DateTime, Enum, ForeignKey, UniqueConstraint, text
-from sqlalchemy.dialects.postgresql import ARRAY, CITEXT, INET
+from sqlalchemy import DateTime, Enum, ForeignKey, String, UniqueConstraint, text
+from sqlalchemy.dialects.postgresql import ARRAY, INET
 from sqlalchemy.orm import (
     DeclarativeBase,
     Mapped,
@@ -24,9 +24,8 @@ class Base(MappedAsDataclass, DeclarativeBase):
     # type has to be used.
 
     type_annotation_map = {  # noqa: RUF012
-        str: CITEXT,  # use case-insensitive strings on PostgreSQL backend
         list[str]: ARRAY(
-            item_type=CITEXT
+            item_type=String
         ),  # transform Python list[str] into PostgreSQL Array of strings
         datetime: DateTime(
             timezone=False
@@ -57,7 +56,7 @@ class Country(Base):
 
     name: Mapped[str]  # full name of the country (in English)
 
-    worker_id: Mapped[UUID | None] = mapped_column(ForeignKey("worker.id"), init=False)
+    worker_id: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(ForeignKey("worker.id"), init=False)
     worker: Mapped[Worker | None] = relationship(back_populates="countries", init=False)
     mirrors: Mapped[list[Mirror]] = relationship(
         back_populates="country",
@@ -94,12 +93,12 @@ class Mirror(Base):
 
 class Worker(Base):
     __tablename__ = "worker"
-    id: Mapped[UUID] = mapped_column(
-        init=False, primary_key=True, server_default=text("uuid_generate_v4()")
-    )
-    # RSA public key for generating access tokens needed to make request to
-    # the web server
-    auth_info: Mapped[str]
+    id: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(primary_key=True)
+    # RSA public key in PKCS8 format for generating access tokens required
+    # to make requests to the web server
+    pubkey_pkcs8: Mapped[str]
+    pubkey_fingerprint: Mapped[str | None]
+
     last_seen_on: Mapped[datetime | None]
     countries: Mapped[list[Country]] = relationship(back_populates="worker", init=False)
 
diff --git a/backend/src/backend/migrations/versions/ef3115ef505c_set_up_database_models.py b/backend/src/backend/migrations/versions/0c273daa1ab0_set_up_database_models.py
similarity index 67%
rename from backend/src/backend/migrations/versions/ef3115ef505c_set_up_database_models.py
rename to backend/src/backend/migrations/versions/0c273daa1ab0_set_up_database_models.py
index 84a60ba..b7e3f87 100644
--- a/backend/src/backend/migrations/versions/ef3115ef505c_set_up_database_models.py
+++ b/backend/src/backend/migrations/versions/0c273daa1ab0_set_up_database_models.py
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 """set up database models
 
-Revision ID: ef3115ef505c
+Revision ID: 0c273daa1ab0
 Revises:
-Create Date: 2024-06-03 15:53:20.253276
+Create Date: 2024-06-04 11:56:53.888630
 
 """
 
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 from sqlalchemy.dialects import postgresql
 
 # revision identifiers, used by Alembic.
-revision = "ef3115ef505c"
+revision = "0c273daa1ab0"
 down_revision = None
 branch_labels = None
 depends_on = None
@@ -34,12 +34,12 @@ def upgrade() -> None:
             sa.Enum(name="status", native_enum=False, create_constraint=True),
             nullable=True,
         ),
-        sa.Column("error", postgresql.CITEXT(), nullable=True),
-        sa.Column("isp", postgresql.CITEXT(), nullable=True),
+        sa.Column("error", sa.String(), nullable=True),
+        sa.Column("isp", sa.String(), nullable=True),
         sa.Column("ip_address", postgresql.INET(), nullable=True),
-        sa.Column("asn", postgresql.CITEXT(), nullable=True),
-        sa.Column("country", postgresql.CITEXT(), nullable=True),
-        sa.Column("location", postgresql.CITEXT(), nullable=True),
+        sa.Column("asn", sa.String(), nullable=True),
+        sa.Column("country", sa.String(), nullable=True),
+        sa.Column("location", sa.String(), nullable=True),
         sa.Column("latency", sa.Integer(), nullable=True),
         sa.Column("download_size", sa.Integer(), nullable=True),
         sa.Column("duration", sa.Integer(), nullable=True),
@@ -48,21 +48,17 @@ def upgrade() -> None:
     )
     op.create_table(
         "worker",
-        sa.Column(
-            "id",
-            sa.Uuid(),
-            server_default=sa.text("uuid_generate_v4()"),
-            nullable=False,
-        ),
-        sa.Column("auth_info", postgresql.CITEXT(), nullable=False),
+        sa.Column("id", sa.String(), nullable=False),
+        sa.Column("pubkey_pkcs8", sa.String(), nullable=False),
+        sa.Column("pubkey_fingerprint", sa.String(), nullable=True),
         sa.Column("last_seen_on", sa.DateTime(), nullable=True),
         sa.PrimaryKeyConstraint("id", name=op.f("pk_worker")),
     )
     op.create_table(
         "country",
-        sa.Column("code", postgresql.CITEXT(), nullable=False),
-        sa.Column("name", postgresql.CITEXT(), nullable=False),
-        sa.Column("worker_id", sa.Uuid(), nullable=True),
+        sa.Column("code", sa.String(), nullable=False),
+        sa.Column("name", sa.String(), nullable=False),
+        sa.Column("worker_id", sa.String(), nullable=True),
         sa.ForeignKeyConstraint(
             ["worker_id"], ["worker.id"], name=op.f("fk_country_worker_id_worker")
         ),
@@ -71,21 +67,19 @@ def upgrade() -> None:
     )
     op.create_table(
         "mirror",
-        sa.Column("id", postgresql.CITEXT(), nullable=False),
-        sa.Column("base_url", postgresql.CITEXT(), nullable=False),
+        sa.Column("id", sa.String(), nullable=False),
+        sa.Column("base_url", sa.String(), nullable=False),
         sa.Column("enabled", sa.Boolean(), nullable=False),
-        sa.Column("region", postgresql.CITEXT(), nullable=True),
-        sa.Column("asn", postgresql.CITEXT(), nullable=True),
+        sa.Column("region", sa.String(), nullable=True),
+        sa.Column("asn", sa.String(), nullable=True),
         sa.Column("score", sa.Integer(), nullable=True),
         sa.Column("latitude", sa.Float(), nullable=True),
         sa.Column("longitude", sa.Float(), nullable=True),
         sa.Column("country_only", sa.Boolean(), nullable=True),
         sa.Column("region_only", sa.Boolean(), nullable=True),
         sa.Column("as_only", sa.Boolean(), nullable=True),
-        sa.Column(
-            "other_countries", postgresql.ARRAY(postgresql.CITEXT()), nullable=True
-        ),
-        sa.Column("country_code", postgresql.CITEXT(), nullable=False),
+        sa.Column("other_countries", postgresql.ARRAY(sa.String()), nullable=True),
+        sa.Column("country_code", sa.String(), nullable=False),
         sa.ForeignKeyConstraint(
             ["country_code"],
             ["country.code"],