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Entity Authentication Techniques Explained

Entity authentication is a technique used to verify the identity of various entities, such as individuals or processes, with the claimant being the party whose identity is authenticated and the verifier being the one who performs the authentication. The document discusses different categories and techniques of entity authentication, including password-based, challenge-response, zero-knowledge, and biometric authentication methods. It also highlights the importance of real-time validation and the various approaches to enhance security in authentication processes.

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Saddam Hossain
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
8 views36 pages

Entity Authentication Techniques Explained

Entity authentication is a technique used to verify the identity of various entities, such as individuals or processes, with the claimant being the party whose identity is authenticated and the verifier being the one who performs the authentication. The document discusses different categories and techniques of entity authentication, including password-based, challenge-response, zero-knowledge, and biometric authentication methods. It also highlights the importance of real-time validation and the various approaches to enhance security in authentication processes.

Uploaded by

Saddam Hossain
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Entity Authentication

1
2

What is entity authentication?



It is a technique designed to let one prove the identity of
another entity

An entity could be
– A person
– A process
– A client, or server
– Etc.

The party whose ID need to be authenticated is called claimant

The party who authenticates the ID is called verifier

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


3

Message Authentication vs.


Entity Authentication

Message authentication or data-origin
authentication might not happen in real time; but
entity authentication happens in real time. (Alice
need to be online when Bob verifies her)

Message authentication validates a single message,
whereas entity authentication validates a claimant
for the entire duration of communication
/interaction session.

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


4

Verification Categories

Something Known
– Secret only known by the claimant and can be verified by the verifier
– Password, PIN, secret key, private key

Something Possesses
– Some form of document to prove the claimant’s identity
– Any form of smart card, Ids

Something Inherent
– An inherent characteristic of the claimant
– Conventinal signature, handwritting, typing speed, facial
characteristics etc.

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


5

Entity Authentication Techniques



Password-based authentication

Challenge – Response authentication

Zero – Knowledge authentication

Biometric Authentication

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


6

Password-based Authentication

Password is something that claimant knows

Two groups of password-based authentication
– Fixed password
– One-time password (OTP)

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


7

Fixed Password

A password that is repeatedly used by claimant
everytime for authenticating itself until its lifetime.

First approach

Second approach

Third approach

Fourth approach

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


8

Fixed Password -First approach



The system keeps a table (a file) sorted by user identity


Open to eavesdropping, stealing, accessing password file and
guessing

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


9

Fixed Password - Second approach



Store the hash of the password in the password file instead of
plain password


Prone to dictionary attack
Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra
10

Fixed Password -Third approach



Salting the password

A random string (salt) is concatenated to the actual password when created

Salted password is then hashed

Makes dictionary attack difficult

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


11

Fixed Password -Fourth approach



Combination (hybrid) of one or more category

Something known + Something possesses
– ATM card + PIN

Something possesses + Something inherent
– Smart ID card + Fingerprint

Robust compared password-based techniques

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


12

One-Time Password (OTP)



The password used exactly once

Makes eavesdropping and stealing attack useless

First approach

Second approach

Third approach

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


13

OTP – First approach



User and system agree upon a list of passwords

Each password on the list can be used only once
and in the given order

Drawbacks
– User must keep a long list of password
– Password needs to be used in the proper sequence for
right-way verification

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


14

OTP – Second approach



User and system agree to sequentially update the password

Initially, user and the system agree upon an original (initial)
password say P1, for first access
● During first access: User generates P2 and Sends E P1(P2) to system
● During second access: User generates P3 and Sends E P2(P3) to
system
● During ith access: User generates Pi+1 and Sends E Pi(Pi+1) to
system

Drawback

If any Pi can be guessed, the rest of the following passwords can be
easily found

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


15

OTP – Third approach



Also known as Lamport one-time password

User and the system create sequentially updated password using hash
function

User and the system agree upon an original password P0, and a counter n
(in thousands) to generate updated sequence of password

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


16

Challenge – Response Authentication



In password-based authentication, the secret is suseptible to
interception by the adversary

In challenge-response authentication, the claimant proves that
she knows a secret without sending it

Challenge is a time varying value
– Random number
– Timestamp

Response is the value of the result of applying a verification
function to the challenge

The value of the response proves that claimant knows the secret

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


17

Challenge-Response Techniques

Using symmetric key cipher

Using keyed hash function

Using Assymetric key cipher

Using Digital signature

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


18

Challenge-Response using Symmetric Key


Cipher – First Approach – Nonce Challenge

NONCE

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


19
Challenge-Response using Symmetric Key
Cipher – Second Approach – Timestamp
challenge

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


20
Challenge-Response using Symmetric Key
Cipher – Third Approach – Bidirectional
challenge

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


21

Challenge-Response using Keyed Hash


Function

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


22

Challenge-Response using Asymmetric Key


Cipher – First Approach – Unidirectional

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


23

Challenge-Response using Asymmetric Key


Cipher – Second Approach – Bidirectional

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


24

Challenge-Response using Digital Signature -


First Approach – Unidirectional

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


25

Challenge-Response using Digital Signature –


Second Approach – Bidirectional

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


26

Zero-Knowledge Authentication

In password based authentication,claimant has to send her
secret to verifier

In some challenge-response authentication
– The verifier could misused secret of the claimant
– The verifier could extract information about secret with the help of
some plannned challenges

Therefore, Zero-Knowledge
– The claimant does not reveal anything that might endanger the
confidentiality of the secret.
– She proves that she knows the secret without revealing it

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


27

Zero-Knowledge Authentication –
Fiat Shamir Protocol

Key generation
– A trusted third party chooses two large primes p and q
to compute n = p * q
– The n is made public, while p and q are kept secret
– Claimant choose a secret integer s, s.t. 1<s<n-1
– Calculates v=s2 mod n
– The v is public key and s is private key

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


28

Zero-Knowledge Authentication –
Fiat Shamir Protocol(2)

Verification Steps

Alice, the claimant, chooses a random number r between 0 and n − 1 (called the commitment)

Calculates the value of x = r mod n; x is called the witness.

Alice sends x to Bob as the witness.

Bob, the verifier, sends the challenge c to Alice. The value of c is either 0 or 1.

Alice calculates the response y = rsc

Alice sends y to Bob

Bob calculates y2 and xvc

If y2 ≡ xvc, then Alice either knows the value of s or has calculated y in some other ways

The above steps constitute a round

The verification is repeated several times with the value of c equal to 0 or 1 (chosen randomly)

The claimant must pass the test in each round to be verified

If she fails one single round, the process is aborted and she is not authenticated.

Correctness : y2 = (rsc)2 = r2s2c = r2(s2)c = xvc

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


29

Zero-Knowledge Authentication –
Fiat Shamir Protocol(3)

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


30

Zero-Knowledge Authentication –
Feige-Fiat-Shamir Protocol

Similar to the Fiat Shamir Protocol except that
– it uses a vector of private keys [s1, s2, ..., sk],
– a vector of public keys [v1, v2, ..., vk], and
– a vector of challenges (c1, c2, ..., ck).

The private keys are chosen randomly, but they
must be relatively prime to n
● The public keys vi = (si2)−1 mod n

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


31

Zero-Knowledge Authentication –
Feige-Fiat-Shamir Protocol(2)

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


32

Zero-Knowledge Authentication –
Guillou-Quisquater protocol

It is an extension of the Fiat-Shamir protocol in which fewer
number of rounds can be used to prove the identity of the
claimant

Key generation
– A trusted third party chooses two large primes p and q to compute
n=p*q
– Choose an exponent e that is coprime with ɸ(n)
– The n and e are made public, while p and q are kept secret
– Trusted party chooses two values s and v, s.t. se * v = 1 mod n
– The v is public key and s is private key

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


33

Zero-Knowledge Authentication –
Guillou-Quisquater protocol(2)

The proof of correctness is left as an exexercise


Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra
34

Biometric Authentication

Biometrics is the measurement of physiological or behavioral features that identify a person

Biometrics measures features that can not be guessed, stolen, or shared.

Components
– capturing devices, feature processors, and storage devices.

Enrollment
– Before using any biometric techniques for authentication, the corresponding feature of each person in the
community should be available in the database.

Authentication
– Authentication is done by verification or identification.

Verification
– In verification, a person’s feature is matched against a single record in the database (one-to-one
matching) to find if she is who she is claiming to be.

Identification
– In identification, a person’s feature is matched against all records in the database (one-to-many matching)
to find if she has a record in the database.

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


35

Biometric Techniques

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra


36

Accuracy of biometric techniques



Accuracy of biometric techniques is measured using two
parameters:

False rejection rate (FRR)
– This parameter measures how often a person, who should be
recognized, is not recognized by the system. FRR is measured as the
ratio of false rejection to the total number of attempts (in percentage).

False Acceptance Rate (FAR)
– This parameter measures how often a person, who should not be
recognized, is recognized by the system. FAR is measured as the ratio
of false acceptance to the total number of attempts (in percentage).

Dr. Alekha Kumar Mishra

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