Two-factor Authentication in Smartphones: Implementations and Attacks

Two-factor authentication is the method of combining two so called authentication factors in order to enhance the security of user authentication. An authentication factor is defined as ”Something the user knows, has or is”. Something the user knows is often the traditional username and password, something the user has is something that the user is in physical possession of and something the user is is a physical trait of the user, such as biometrics. Two-factor authentication greatly enhances security attributes compared to traditional password-only methods. With the advent of the smartphone, new convenient authentication methods have been developed in order to take advantage of the versatility such devices provide. However, older two-factor authentication methods such as sending codes via SMS are still widely popular and in the case of the smartphone opens up new attack vectors for criminals to exploit by creating malware that is able to gain control over SMS functionality. This thesis explores, discusses and compares three distinct two-factor authentication methods used in smartphones today in the sense of security and usability. These are mTAN (mobile Transaction Authentication Number), TOTP (Time-based One Time Password Algorithm) and PKI (Public Key Infrastructure). Both practial and theoretical attacks against these methods are reviewed with a focus on malicious software and advantages and disadvantages of each method are presented. An in-depth analysis of an Android smartphone SMS-stealing trojan is done in order to gain a deeper understanding of how smartphone malware operates

Authentication System and Method for Improving Security Login without Typing Password

Authentication in the login process is an important thing that needs attention. The login process will involve a password that is owned by the user, while the password is private and confidential. If someone uses a weak password, the password is likely to be easily hacked. Authentication security needs to be improved, and hackers will get access to the login system with only a few attack techniques such as SQL Injection or sniffing techniques. Besides, the lack of awareness of users by creating weak passwords is easy to guess. Meanwhile, to create a strong password, consisting of upper- and lower-case letters, a combination of numbers and symbols, it is very difficult to remember. This is a very important problem in the login process. This study discusses the login authentication process that can perform login integration without typing a password, because passwords are generated repeatedly with the One Time Password (OTP) method, and use the Quick Response Code (QR) as its support. To disguise the data in the QR Code, which is applied by the Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) encryption algorithm, and will be tested on a web-based application. The login integration process, using the QR Code token application that runs on an android phone. Which functions as an OTP token generator, and a web-based application will read information from the QR Code token. The result is that with login authentication, this can increase the security and ease of the authentication process without typing a password

Strong Electronic Identification: Survey & Scenario Planning

The deployment of more high-risk services such as online banking and government services on the Internet has meant that the need and demand for strong electronic identity is bigger today more than ever. Different stakeholders have different reasons for moving their services to the Internet, including cost savings, being closer to the customer or citizen, increasing volume and value of services among others. This means that traditional online identification schemes based on self-asserted identities are no longer sufficient to cope with the required level of assurance demanded by these services. Therefore, strong electronic identification methods that utilize identifiers rooted in real world identities must be provided to be used by customers and citizens alike on the Internet. This thesis focuses on studying state-of-the-art methods for providing reliable and mass market strong electronic identity in the world today. It looks at concrete real-world examples that enable real world identities to be transferred and used in the virtual world of the Internet. The thesis identifies crucial factors that determine what constitutes a strong electronic identity solution and through these factors evaluates and compares the example solutions surveyed in the thesis. As the Internet become more pervasive in our lives; mobile devices are becoming the primary devices for communication and accessing Internet services. This has thus, raised the question of what sort of strong electronic identity solutions could be implemented and how such solutions could adapt to the future. To help to understand the possible alternate futures, a scenario planning and analysis method was used to develop a series of scenarios from underlying key economic, political, technological and social trends and uncertainties. The resulting three future scenarios indicate how the future of strong electronic identity will shape up with the aim of helping stakeholders contemplate the future and develop policies and strategies to better position themselves for the future

Strong Electronic Identification: Survey & Scenario Planning

The deployment of more high-risk services such as online banking and government services on the Internet has meant that the need and demand for strong electronic identity is bigger today more than ever. Different stakeholders have different reasons for moving their services to the Internet, including cost savings, being closer to the customer or citizen, increasing volume and value of services among others. This means that traditional online identification schemes based on self-asserted identities are no longer sufficient to cope with the required level of assurance demanded by these services. Therefore, strong electronic identification methods that utilize identifiers rooted in real world identities must be provided to be used by customers and citizens alike on the Internet. This thesis focuses on studying state-of-the-art methods for providing reliable and mass market strong electronic identity in the world today. It looks at concrete real-world examples that enable real world identities to be transferred and used in the virtual world of the Internet. The thesis identifies crucial factors that determine what constitutes a strong electronic identity solution and through these factors evaluates and compares the example solutions surveyed in the thesis. As the Internet become more pervasive in our lives; mobile devices are becoming the primary devices for communication and accessing Internet services. This has thus, raised the question of what sort of strong electronic identity solutions could be implemented and how such solutions could adapt to the future. To help to understand the possible alternate futures, a scenario planning and analysis method was used to develop a series of scenarios from underlying key economic, political, technological and social trends and uncertainties. The resulting three future scenarios indicate how the future of strong electronic identity will shape up with the aim of helping stakeholders contemplate the future and develop policies and strategies to better position themselves for the future

I bought a new security token and all I got was this lousy phish— Relay attacks on visual code authentication schemes

One recent thread of academic and commercial research into web authentication has focused on schemes where users scan a visual code with their smartphone, which is a convenient alternative to password- based login. We find that many schemes in the literature (including, previously, our own) are, unfortunately, vulnerable to relay attacks. We explain the inherent reasons for this vulnerability and offer an architec- tural fix, evaluating its trade-offs and discussing why it has never been proposed by other authors.ERC 30722