Cryptanalysis of a client-to-client password-authenticated key agreement protocol

Recently, Byun et al. proposed an efficient client-to-client password-authenticated key agreement protocol (EC2C-PAKA), which was provably secure in a formally defined security model. This letter shows that EC2C-PAKA protocol is vulnerable to password compromise impersonate attack and man-in-the-middle attack if the key between servers is compromised

Analysis of two pairing-based three-party password authenticated key exchange protocols

Password-Authenticated Key Exchange (PAKE) protocols allow parties to share secret keys in an authentic manner based on an easily memorizable password. Recently, Nam et al. showed that a provably secure three-party password-based authenticated key exchange protocol using Weil pairing by Wen et al. is vulnerable to a man-in-the-middle attack. In doing so, Nam et al. showed the flaws in the proof of Wen et al. and described how to fix the problem so that their attack no longer works. In this paper, we show that both Wen et al. and Nam et al. variants fall to key compromise impersonation by any adversary. Our results underline the fact that although the provable security approach is necessary to designing PAKEs, gaps still exist between what can be proven and what are really secure in practice

Authentic-caller : self-enforcing authentication in a next generation network

The Internet of Things (IoT) or the Cyber-Physical System (CPS) is the network of connected devices, things and people which collect and exchange information using the emerging telecommunication networks (4G, 5G IP-based LTE). These emerging telecommunication networks can also be used to transfer critical information between the source and destination, informing the control system about the outage in the electrical grid, or providing information about the emergency at the national express highway. This sensitive information requires authorization and authentication of source and destination involved in the communication. To protect the network from unauthorized access and to provide authentication, the telecommunication operators have to adopt the mechanism for seamless verification and authorization of parties involved in the communication. Currently, the next-generation telecommunication networks use a digest-based authentication mechanism, where the call-processing engine of the telecommunication operator initiates the challenge to the request-initiating client or caller, which is being solved by the client to prove his credentials. However, the digest-based authentication mechanisms are vulnerable to many forms of known attacks e.g., the Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) attack and the password guessing attack. Furthermore, the digest-based systems require extensive processing overheads. Several Public-Key Infrastructure (PKI) based and identity-based schemes have been proposed for the authentication and key agreements. However, these schemes generally require smart-card to hold long-term private keys and authentication credentials. In this paper, we propose a novel self-enforcing authentication protocol for the SIPbased next-generation network based on a low-entropy shared password without relying on any PKI or trusted third party system. The proposed system shows effective resistance against various attacks e.g., MITM, replay attack, password guessing attack, etc. We a..

Two-factor remote authentication protocol with user anonymity based on elliptic curve cryptography

In order to provide secure remote access control, a robust and efficient authentication protocol should realize mutual authentication and session key agreement between clients and the remote server over public channels. Recently, Chun-Ta Li proposed a password authentication and user anonymity protocol by using smart cards, and they claimed that their protocol has satisfied all criteria required by remote authentication. However, we have found that his protocol cannot provide mutual authentication between clients and the remote server. To realize ‘real’ mutual authentication, we propose a two-factor remote authentication protocol based on elliptic curve cryptography in this paper, which not only satisfies the criteria but also bears low computational cost. Detailed analysis shows our proposed protocol is secure and more suitable for practical application

Biometric identity-based cryptography for e-Government environment

Government information is a vital asset that must be kept in a trusted environment and efficiently managed by authorised parties. Even though e-Government provides a number of advantages, it also introduces a range of new security risks. Sharing confidential and top-secret information in a secure manner among government sectors tend to be the main element that government agencies look for. Thus, developing an effective methodology is essential and it is a key factor for e-Government success. The proposed e-Government scheme in this paper is a combination of identity-based encryption and biometric technology. This new scheme can effectively improve the security in authentication systems, which provides a reliable identity with a high degree of assurance. In addition, this paper demonstrates the feasibility of using Finite-state machines as a formal method to analyse the proposed protocols