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2.2: Authentication

  • Page ID
    45913
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    What is Authentication?

    In security, authentication is the process of verifying whether someone (or something) is, in fact, who (or what) it is declared to be.

    According the the National Institute of Standards and Technology authentication is defined as "Authentication: Verifying the identity of a user, process, or device, often as a prerequisite to allowing access to resources in an information system". Notice that this definition does not restrict authentication to human users. It includes processes, or devices

    Authentication factors

    The ways in which someone may be authenticated fall into three categories, based on what are known as the factors of authentication: something the user knows, something the user has, and something the user is. Each authentication factor covers a range of elements used to authenticate or verify a person's identity prior to being granted access, approving a transaction request, signing a document or other work product, granting authority to others, and establishing a chain of authority.

    Security research has determined that for a positive authentication, elements from at least two, and preferably all three, factors should be verified. The four factors (classes) and some of elements of each factor are:

    • the knowledge factors: Something the user knows (e.g., a password, partial password, pass phrase, personal identification number (PIN), challenge response (the user must answer a question or pattern), security question).
    • the ownership factors: Something the user possess (e.g., wrist band, ID card, security token, implanted device, cell phone with built-in hardware token, software token, or cell phone holding a software token).
    • the inherence factors: Something the user is or does (e.g., fingerprint, retinal pattern, DNA sequence (there are assorted definitions of what is sufficient), signature, face, voice, unique bio-electric signals, or other biometric identifier).
    • the location factors: Somewhere the user is (e.g. connection to a specific computing network or using a GPS signal to identify the location).

    Multi-factor authentication

    Multi-factor authentication is an electronic authentication method in which a computer user is granted access to a website or application only after successfully presenting two or more pieces of evidence (or factors) to an authentication mechanism: knowledge (something only the user knows), possession (something only the user has), and inherence (something only the user is). It protects the user from an unknown person trying to access their data such as personal ID details or financial assets.

    Authentication takes place when someone tries to log into a computer resource (such as a network, device, or application). The resource requires the user to supply the identity by which the user is known to the resource, along with evidence of the authenticity of the user's claim to that identity. Simple authentication requires only one such piece of evidence (factor), typically a password. For additional security, the resource may require more than one factor—multi-factor authentication, or two-factor authentication in cases where exactly two pieces of evidence are to be supplied.

    The use of multiple authentication factors to prove one's identity is based on the premise that an unauthorized actor is unlikely to be able to supply the factors required for access. If, in an authentication attempt, at least one of the components is missing or supplied incorrectly, the user's identity is not established with sufficient certainty and access to the asset (e.g., a building, or data) being protected by multi-factor authentication then remains blocked.

    Knowledge

    Knowledge factors are the most commonly used form of authentication. In this form, the user is required to prove knowledge of a secret in order to authenticate.

    A password is a secret word or string of characters that is used for user authentication. This is the most commonly used mechanism of authentication. Many multi-factor authentication techniques rely on password as one factor of authentication. Variations include both longer ones formed from multiple words (a passphrase) and the shorter, purely numeric, personal identification number (PIN) commonly used for ATM access. Traditionally, passwords are expected to be memorized.

    Many secret questions such as "Where were you born?" are poor examples of a knowledge factor because they may be known to a wide group of people, or be able to be researched.

    Possession

    Possession factors ("something only the user has") have been used for authentication for centuries, in the form of a key to a lock. The basic principle is that the key embodies a secret which is shared between the lock and the key, and the same principle underlies possession factor authentication in computer systems. A security token is an example of a possession factor.

    Disconnected tokens have no connections to the client computer. They typically use a built-in screen to display the generated authentication data, which is manually typed in by the user. This type of token mostly use a "one-time password" that can only be used for that specific session.

    Connected tokens are devices that are physically connected to the computer to be used. Those devices transmit data automatically. There are a number of different types, including card readers, wireless tags and USB tokens.

    A software token (a.k.a. soft token) is a type of two-factor authentication security device that may be used to authorize the use of computer services. Software tokens are stored on a general-purpose electronic device such as a desktop computer, laptop, PDA, or mobile phone and can be duplicated. (Contrast hardware tokens, where the credentials are stored on a dedicated hardware device and therefore cannot be duplicated, absent physical invasion of the device.) A soft token may not be a device the user interacts with. Typically an X.509v3 certificate is loaded onto the device and stored securely to serve this purpose.

    Inherent

    These are factors associated with the user, and are usually biometric methods, including fingerprint, face, voice, or iris recognition. Behavioral biometrics such as keystroke dynamics can also be used.

    Location

    Increasingly, a fourth factor is coming into play involving the physical location of the user. While hard wired to the corporate network, a user could be allowed to login using only a pin code while off the network entering a code from a soft token as well could be required. This could be seen as an acceptable standard where access into the office is controlled.

    Systems for network admission control work in similar ways where your level of network access can be contingent on the specific network your device is connected to, such as wifi vs wired connectivity. This also allows a user to move between offices and dynamically receive the same level of network access in each.

    Mutual authentication

    Mutual authentication or two-way authentication (not to be confused with two-factor authentication) refers to two parties authenticating each other at the same time in an authentication protocol. It was previously referred to as “mutual entity authentication,” as two or more entities verify the others' legality before any data or information is transmitted.

    Mutual authentication is a desired characteristic in verification schemes that transmit sensitive data, in order to ensure data security. Mutual authentication is found in two types of schemes: username-password based schemes and certificate based schemes, and these schemes are often employed in the Internet of Things (IoT). Writing effective security schemes in IoT systems can become challenging, especially when needing schemes to be lightweight and have low computational costs. Mutual authentication is a crucial security step that can defend against many adversarial attacks, which otherwise can have large consequences if IoT systems (such as e-Healthcare servers) are hacked. In scheme analyses done of past works, a lack of mutual authentication had been considered a weakness in data transmission schemes.

    Adapted from:
    "Multi-factor authentication" by Multiple ContributorsWikipedia is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
    "Authentication" by Multiple ContributorsWikipedia is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0


    This page titled 2.2: Authentication is shared under a CC BY-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Patrick McClanahan.

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