Mobile user authentication system (MUAS) for e-commerce applications.

The rapid growth of e-commerce has many associated security concerns. Thus, several studies to develop secure online authentication systems have emerged. Most studies begin with the premise that the intermediate network is the primary point of compromise. In this thesis, we assume that the point of compromise lies within the end-host or browser; this security threat is called the man-in-the-browser (MITB) attack. MITB attacks can bypass security measures of public key infrastructures (PKI), as well as encryption mechanisms for secure socket layers and transport layer security (SSL/TLS) protocol. This thesis focuses on developing a system that can circumvent MITB attacks using a two-phase secure-user authentication system, with phases that include challenge and response generation. The proposed system represents the first step in conducting an online business transaction.The proposed authentication system design contributes to protect the confidentiality of the initiating client by requesting minimal and non-confidential information to bypass the MITB attack and transition the authentication mechanism from the infected browser to a mobile-based system via a challenge/response mechanism. The challenge and response generation process depends on validating the submitted information and ensuring the mobile phone legitimacy. Both phases within the MUAS context mitigate the denial-of-service (DOS) attack via registration information, which includes the client’s mobile number and the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) of the client’s mobile phone.This novel authentication scheme circumvents the MITB attack by utilising the legitimate client’s personal mobile phone as a detached platform to generate the challenge response and conduct business transactions. Although the MITB attacker may have taken over the challenge generation phase by failing to satisfy the required security properties, the response generation phase generates a secure response from the registered legitimate mobile phone by employing security attributes from both phases. Thus, the detached challenge- and response generation phases are logically linked

Managing near field communication (NFC) payment applications through cloud computing

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The Near Field Communication (NFC) technology is a short-range radio communication channel which enables users to exchange data between devices. NFC provides a contactless technology for data transmission between smart phones, Personal Computers (PCs), Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and such devices. It enables the mobile phone to act as identification and a credit card for customers. However, the NFC chip can act as a reader as well as a card, and also be used to design symmetric protocols. Having several parties involved in NFC ecosystem and not having a common standard affects the security of this technology where all the parties are claiming to have access to client’s information (e.g. bank account details). The dynamic relationships of the parties in an NFC transaction process make them partners in a way that sometimes they share their access permissions on the applications that are running in the service environment. These parties can only access their part of involvement as they are not fully aware of each other’s rights and access permissions. The lack of knowledge between involved parties makes the management and ownership of the NFC ecosystem very puzzling. To solve this issue, a security module that is called Secure Element (SE) is designed to be the base of the security for NFC. However, there are still some security issues with SE personalization, management, ownership and architecture that can be exploitable by attackers and delay the adaption of NFC payment technology. Reorganizing and describing what is required for the success of this technology have motivated us to extend the current NFC ecosystem models to accelerate the development of this business area. One of the technologies that can be used to ensure secure NFC transactions is cloud computing which offers wide range advantages compared to the use of SE as a single entity in an NFC enabled mobile phone. We believe cloud computing can solve many issues in regards to NFC application management. Therefore, in the first contribution of part of this thesis we propose a new payment model called “NFC Cloud Wallet". This model demonstrates a reliable structure of an NFC ecosystem which satisfies the requirements of an NFC payment during the development process in a systematic, manageable, and effective way

Enhanced Quality of Experience Based on Enriched Network Centric and Access Control Mechanisms

In the digital world service provisioning in user satisfying quality has become the goal of any content or network provider. Besides having satisfied and therefore, loyal users, the creation of sustainable revenue streams is the most important issue for network operators [1], [2], [3]. The motivation of this work is to enhance the quality of experience of users when they connect to the Internet, request application services as well as to maintain full service when these users are on the move in WLAN based access networks. In this context, the aspect of additional revenue creation for network operators is considered as well. The enhancements presented in this work are based on enriched network centric and access control mechanisms which will be achieved in three different areas of networks capabilities, namely the network performance, the network access and the network features themselves. In the area of network performance a novel authentication and authorisation method is introduced which overcomes the drawback of long authentication time in the handover procedure as required by the generic IEEE 802.1X process using the EAP-TLS method. The novel sequential authentication solution reduces the communication interruption time in a WLAN handover process of currently several hundred milliseconds to some milliseconds by combining the WPA2 PSK and the WPA2 EAP-TLS. In the area of usability a new user-friendly hotspot registration and login mechanisms is presented which significantly simplifies how users obtain WLAN hotspot login credentials and logon to a hotspot. This novel barcode initiated hotspot auto-login solution obtains user credentials through a simple SMS and performs an auto-login process that avoids the need to enter user name and password on the login page manually. In the area of network features a new system is proposed which overcomes the drawback that users are not aware of the quality in which a service can be provided prior to starting the service. This novel graceful denial of service solution informs the user about the expected application service quality before the application service is started

Development of a secure multi-factor authentication algorithm for mobile money applications

A Thesis Submitted in Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information and Communication Science and Engineering of the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and TechnologyWith the evolution of industry 4.0, financial technologies have become paramount and mobile money as one of the financial technologies has immensely contributed to improving financial inclusion among the unbanked population. Several mobile money schemes were developed but, they suffered severe authentication security challenges since they implemented two-factor authentication. This study focused on developing a secure multi-factor authentication (MFA) algorithm for mobile money applications. It uses personal identification numbers, one-time passwords, biometric fingerprints, and quick response codes to authenticate and authorize mobile money subscribers. Secure hash algorithm-256, Rivest-Shamir-Adleman encryption, and Fernet encryption were used to secure the authentication factors, confidential financial information and data before transmission to the remote databases. A literature review, survey, evolutionary prototyping model, and heuristic evaluation and usability testing methods were used to identify authentication issues, develop prototypes of native genuine mobile money (G-MoMo) applications, and identify usability issues with the interface designs and ascertain their usability, respectively. The results of the review grouped the threat models into attacks against privacy, authentication, confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The survey identified authentication attacks, identity theft, phishing attacks, and PIN sharing as the key mobile money systems’ security issues. The researcher designed a secure MFA algorithm for mobile money applications and developed three native G-MoMo applications to implement the designed algorithm to prove the feasibility of the algorithm and that it provided robust security. The algorithm was resilient to non-repudiation, ensured strong authentication security, data confidentiality, integrity, privacy, and user anonymity, was highly effective against several attacks but had high communication overhead and computational costs. Nevertheless, the heuristic evaluation results showed that the G-MoMo applications’ interface designs lacked forward navigation buttons, uniformity in the applications’ menu titles, search fields, actions needed for recovery, and help and documentation. Similarly, the usability testing revealed that they were easy to learn, effective, efficient, memorable, with few errors, subscriber satisfaction, easy to use, aesthetic, easy to integrate, and understandable. Implementing a secure mobile money authentication and authorisation by combining multiple factors which are securely stored helps mobile money subscribers and other stakeholders to have trust in the developed native G-MoMo applications

Segurança em ambientes de proximidade

Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e TelemáticaA crescente adopção de dispositivos móveis, com cada vez mais capacidades de computação e comunicação, leva inevitavelmente à questão de como podem ser explorados. O objectivo desta dissertação passa por explorar algumas dessas capacidades de forma a melhorar e evoluir a interac ção segura entre o utilizador e os serviços que utilizada no seu dia-a-dia. É particularmente interessante o uso destes dispositivos não apenas como sistemas de armazenamento, mas como peças activas na interacção entre o utilizador e o mundo que o rodeia, um cenário potenciado pelas crescentes capacidades de comunicação em proximidade destes dispositivos. Esta dissertação debruça-se sobre o estudo e possível integração da proximidade física entre um utilizador e os sistemas que usa diariamente como um requisito extra na autenticação e comunicação entre eles, usando o seu dispositivo móvel para interagir com os mesmos. De forma a demonstrar uma possível integração destes elementos num sistema, este trabalho apresenta uma implementação que explora o uso de tecnologias de curto alcance como meio de comunicação e como requisito de autenticação, recorrendo a mecanismos de segurança para estabelecer comunicações privadas sobre redes públicas e garantir e veri car a autencidade da informa ção trocada e armazenada.The increasing adoption of mobile devices with more computing and communication capabilities inevitably raises the question of how to explore them. The goal of this dissertation is to explore some of those capabilities to improve and evolve secure interactions between the user and the services that he uses in his daily life. It is particularly interesting to use these devices not only as storage systems, but also as active elements in the interaction between the user and the world around him: this objective is boosted by the increasing proximity-based communication capabilities of those devices. This dissertation focus on the study and possible integration of the physical proximity between a user and the systems he uses every day as an extra requirement for authentication, using his mobile device to interact with them. To demonstrate a possible integration of these elements into a system, this work presents an implementation that explores the use of short-range wireless technologies as a communication mean and as a requirement for authentication, using security mechanisms to establish private communications through public networks and to ensure and verify the authenticity of the information exchanged and stored

Secure Mutual Self-Authenticable Mechanism for Wearable Devices

YesDue to the limited communication range of wearable devices, there is the need for wearable devices to communicate amongst themselves, supporting devices and the internet or to the internet. Most wearable devices are not internet enabled and most often need an internet enabled broker device or intermediate device in order to reach the internet. For a secure end to end communication between these devices security measures like authentication must be put in place in other to prevent unauthorised access to information given the sensitivity of the information collected and transmitted. Therefore, there are other existing authentication solutions for wearable devices but these solutions actively involve from time to time the user of the device which is prone to a lot of challenges. As a solution to these challenges, this paper proposes a secure point-to-point Self-authentication mechanism that involves device to device interaction. This work exploits existing standards and framework like NFC, PPP, EAP etc. in other to achieve a device compatible secure authentication protocol amongst wearable device and supporting devices.

Survey and Systematization of Secure Device Pairing

Secure Device Pairing (SDP) schemes have been developed to facilitate secure communications among smart devices, both personal mobile devices and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Comparison and assessment of SDP schemes is troublesome, because each scheme makes different assumptions about out-of-band channels and adversary models, and are driven by their particular use-cases. A conceptual model that facilitates meaningful comparison among SDP schemes is missing. We provide such a model. In this article, we survey and analyze a wide range of SDP schemes that are described in the literature, including a number that have been adopted as standards. A system model and consistent terminology for SDP schemes are built on the foundation of this survey, which are then used to classify existing SDP schemes into a taxonomy that, for the first time, enables their meaningful comparison and analysis.The existing SDP schemes are analyzed using this model, revealing common systemic security weaknesses among the surveyed SDP schemes that should become priority areas for future SDP research, such as improving the integration of privacy requirements into the design of SDP schemes. Our results allow SDP scheme designers to create schemes that are more easily comparable with one another, and to assist the prevention of persisting the weaknesses common to the current generation of SDP schemes.Comment: 34 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables, accepted at IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials 2017 (Volume: PP, Issue: 99

Sécurité collaborative pour l internet des objets

Cette thèse aborde des nouveaux défis de sécurité dans l'Internet des Objets (IdO). La transition actuelle de l'Internet classique vers l'Internet des Objets conduit à de nombreux changements dans les modèles de communications sous-jacents. La nature hétérogène des communications de l IdO et le déséquilibre entre les capacités des entités communicantes qui le constituent rendent difficile l'établissement de connexions sécurisées de bout en bout. Contrairement aux nœuds de l Internet traditionnel, la plupart des composants de l'Internet des Objets sont en effet caractérisés par de faibles capacités en termes d'énergie et de puissance calcul. Par conséquent, ils ne sont pas en mesure de supporter des systèmes de sécurité complexes. En particulier, la mise en place d'un canal de communication sécurisé de bout en bout nécessite l établissement d'une clé secrète commune entre les deux nœuds souhaitant communiquer, qui sera négociée en s'appuyant sur un protocole d'échange de clés tels que le Transport Layer Security (TLS) Handshake ou l Internet Key Exchange (IKE). Or, une utilisation directe de ces protocoles pour établir des connexions sécurisées entre deux entités de l IdO peut être difficile en raison de l'écart technologique entre celles-ci et des incohérences qui en résultent sur le plan des primitives cryptographiques supportées. Le sujet de l'adaptation des protocoles de sécurité existants pour répondre à ces nouveaux défis a récemment été soulevé dans la communauté scientifique. Cependant, les premières solutions proposées n'ont pas réussi à répondre aux besoins des nœuds à ressources limitées. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons de nouvelles approches collaboratives pour l'établissement de clés, dans le but de réduire les exigences des protocoles de sécurité existants, afin que ceux-ci puissent être mis en œuvre par des nœuds à ressources limitées. Nous avons particulièrement retenu les protocoles TLS Handshake, IKE et HIP BEX comme les meilleurs candidats correspondant aux exigences de sécurité de bout en bout pour l'IdO. Puis nous les avons modifiés de sorte que le nœud contraint en énergie puisse déléguer les opérations cryptographiques couteuses à un ensemble de nœuds au voisinage, tirant ainsi avantage de l'hétérogénéité spatiale qui caractérise l IdO. Nous avons entrepris des vérifications formelles de sécurité et des analyses de performance qui prouvent la sureté et l'efficacité énergétique des protocoles collaboratifs proposés. Dans une deuxième partie, nous avons porté notre attention sur une classe d attaques internes que la collaboration entre les nœuds peut induire et que les mécanismes cryptographiques classiques, tels que la signature et le chiffrement, s'avèrent impuissants à contrer. Cela nous a amené à introduire la notion de confiance au sein d'un groupe collaboratif. Le niveau de fiabilité d'un nœud est évalué par un mécanisme de sécurité dédié, connu sous le nom de système de gestion de confiance. Ce système est lui aussi instancié sur une base collaborative, dans laquelle plusieurs nœuds partagent leurs témoignages respectifs au sujet de la fiabilité des autres nœuds. En nous appuyant sur une analyse approfondie des systèmes de gestion de confiance existants et des contraintes de l IoD, nous avons conçu un système de gestion de confiance efficace pour nos protocoles collaboratifs. Cette efficacité a été évaluée en tenant compte de la façon dont le système de gestion de la confiance répond aux exigences spécifiques à nos approches proposées pour l'établissement de clés dans le contexte de l'IdO. Les résultats des analyses de performance que nous avons menées démontrent le bon fonctionnement du système proposé et une efficacité accrue par rapport à la littératureThis thesis addresses new security challenges in the Internet of Things (IoT). The current transition from legacy Internet to Internet of Things leads to multiple changes in its communication paradigms. Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) initiated this transition by introducing unattended wireless topologies, mostly made of resource constrained nodes, in which radio spectrum therefore ceased to be the only resource worthy of optimization. Today's Machine to Machine (M2M) and Internet of Things architectures further accentuated this trend, not only by involving wider architectures but also by adding heterogeneity, resource capabilities inconstancy and autonomy to once uniform and deterministic systems. The heterogeneous nature of IoT communications and imbalance in resources capabilities between IoT entities make it challenging to provide the required end-to-end secured connections. Unlike Internet servers, most of IoT components are characterized by low capabilities in terms of both energy and computing resources, and thus, are unable to support complex security schemes. The setup of a secure end-to-end communication channel requires the establishment of a common secret key between both peers, which would be negotiated relying on standard security key exchange protocols such as Transport Layer Security (TLS) Handshake or Internet Key Exchange (IKE). Nevertheless, a direct use of existing key establishment protocols to initiate connections between two IoT entities may be impractical because of the technological gap between them and the resulting inconsistencies in their cryptographic primitives. The issue of adapting existing security protocols to fulfil these new challenges has recently been raised in the international research community but the first proposed solutions failed to satisfy the needs of resource-constrained nodes. In this thesis, we propose novel collaborative approaches for key establishment designed to reduce the requirements of existing security protocols, in order to be supported by resource-constrained devices. We particularly retained TLS handshake, Internet key Exchange and HIP BEX protocols as the best keying candidates fitting the end-to-end security requirements of the IoT. Then we redesigned them so that the constrained peer may delegate its heavy cryptographic load to less constrained nodes in neighbourhood exploiting the spatial heterogeneity of IoT nodes. Formal security verifications and performance analyses were also conducted to ensure the security effectiveness and energy efficiency of our collaborative protocols. However, allowing collaboration between nodes may open the way to a new class of threats, known as internal attacks that conventional cryptographic mechanisms fail to deal with. This introduces the concept of trustworthiness within a collaborative group. The trustworthiness level of a node has to be assessed by a dedicated security mechanism known as a trust management system. This system aims to track nodes behaviours to detect untrustworthy elements and select reliable ones for collaborative services assistance. In turn, a trust management system is instantiated on a collaborative basis, wherein multiple nodes share their evidences about one another's trustworthiness. Based on an extensive analysis of prior trust management systems, we have identified a set of best practices that provided us guidance to design an effective trust management system for our collaborative keying protocols. This effectiveness was assessed by considering how the trust management system could fulfil specific requirements of our proposed approaches for key establishment in the context of the IoT. Performance analysis results show the proper functioning and effectiveness of the proposed system as compared with its counterparts that exist in the literatureEVRY-INT (912282302) / SudocSudocFranceF