Authentication method and system for enhancing security of personal information by using security tokens

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an authentication method for enhancing security of user personal information, which is required for accessing a service server, by using an authentication server and an authentication application installed in a user terminal to access the authentication server comprises the steps in which: the authentication application receives personal information from a user and stores same; the authentication application displays a list of accessible service servers; the authentication application receives, from the user, a selection of a service server desired to be accessed from among the list of service servers; the authentication application primarily encrypts the stored personal information by using a public key of the selected service server and secondarily encrypts the primarily encrypted personal information by using a public key of the authentication server; the authentication application transmits the secondarily encrypted personal information to the authentication server; the authentication server generates a login code corresponding to the secondarily encrypted personal information received from the authentication application; and the authentication server transmits the login code to the authentication application, wherein the list of accessible service servers is configured to be predetermined by the authentication server.

Description

Method and system for strengthening personal information security using security tokens

[0001] The present invention relates to a security-enhanced authentication system, and more specifically, to a security-enhanced authentication method and system for performing an operation for login using a security token.

[0002] Currently, many service applications utilize an authentication system that directly receives unique information that identifies each individual, such as name, email address, phone number, date of birth, ID, password, and resident registration number, from the user to authenticate access to the application and perform member registration and log-in.

[0003] In this case, users may face difficulties, as they must install various security programs on each site of the service server and then enter their personal information each time they sign up and log in. Furthermore, since each service server retains their personal information, if some of the servers are phishing sites, spam sites, or similar sites, or if even one server is compromised, personal information may be leaked.

[0004] Accordingly, a new authentication system may be required that can strengthen the security of a user's personal information by physically separating the service server and the user when entering personal information, thereby allowing the user to access the service server without directly entering personal information by performing actions for membership registration and login using a security token provided separately from the service server.

[0005] Additionally, a new authentication system may be required to improve user convenience by eliminating the hassle of having to enter personal information each time for membership registration and login to sites authenticated through security tokens.

[0006] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method and system for enhanced security authentication that performs an operation for login through communication of encrypted data using a security token.

[0007] According to an embodiment of the present invention, an authentication method for strengthening the security of a user's personal information required for accessing a service server using an authentication server and an authentication application installed on a user terminal for accessing the authentication server comprises the steps of: receiving and storing personal information from a user by the authentication application; displaying a list of service servers accessible by the authentication application; receiving from the user a service server desired to be accessed from the list of service servers by the authentication application; encrypting the stored personal information for the first time using a public key of the selected service server, and encrypting the first-encrypted personal information for the second time using a public key of the authentication server; transmitting the second-encrypted personal information by the authentication application to the authentication server; generating a login code corresponding to the second-encrypted personal information received by the authentication server from the authentication application; and transmitting the login code to the authentication application, wherein the list of accessible service servers may be configured to be determined in advance by the authentication server.

[0008] As an embodiment, after the step of the authentication server providing a login code to the authentication application, the method may further include the step of the authentication server receiving a login code from a service server, the step of the authentication server verifying the login code received from the service server together with the login code transmitted to the authentication application to determine whether it is valid, and the step of the authentication server transmitting personal information that has been initially decrypted with the private key of the authentication server together with the login code to the service server if it is determined that the login code received from the service server is valid.

[0009] As an embodiment, after the authentication server transmits the first decrypted personal information to the service server, the authentication server may further include a step of deleting all or part of the first decrypted personal information from the authentication server, and the authentication server may be configured to preserve at least one of a log of generating a login code, transmitting it to a user terminal, and receiving a login code from the service server.

[0010] As an embodiment, the method may further include a step of the authentication server receiving a public key of a service server from each service server in a predetermined list of service servers, and a step of transmitting data so that service server public key information stored in the authentication application can be updated according to the service server public key information received by the authentication server.

[0011] As an embodiment, the step of the authentication application transmitting the second-encrypted personal information to the authentication server may further include the step of the authentication application encrypting the public key of the user terminal with the public key of the authentication server and transmitting the encrypted public key, and the authentication server may be configured to decrypt the encrypted public key of the user terminal received from the authentication application with the private key of the authentication server.

[0012] As an embodiment, the step of transmitting the login code may further include a step of the authentication server encrypting the login code with the public key of the user terminal and transmitting it, and the authentication application may be configured to decrypt the login code received from the authentication server with the private key of the user terminal.

[0013] As an embodiment, the step of the authentication application transmitting the second-encrypted personal information to the authentication server may further include the step of the authentication application transmitting information about the selected service server to the authentication server, and the step of the authentication server verifying the login code received from the service server and determining whether it is valid may further include the step of the authentication server determining whether the service server to be verified corresponds to the information about the selected service server received from the authentication application.

[0014] As an example, if the selected service server requires the input of additional personal information, after the step of selecting the desired service server to connect to, the authentication application may be configured to receive additional personal information from the user, and the secondary encryption may be configured to secondarily encrypt the additional personal information together with the personal information stored by the authentication application.

[0015] As an example, the authentication server may be configured to receive a list of required information from a service server and transmit information regarding whether the authentication application requires additional personal information input from the user depending on the selected service server.

[0016] As an example, the login code may be configured to further include a string containing at least a portion of the second encrypted personal information received by the authentication server or the personal information received and decrypted by the authentication server.

[0017] As an embodiment, the step of the authentication application transmitting the second-encrypted personal information to the authentication server further includes the step of the authentication application encrypting information on the validity period of a login code input by the user with the public key of the authentication server and transmitting the encrypted information, and the authentication server may be configured to set the validity period of the login code transmitted to the authentication application based on the information on the validity period of the login code.

[0018] An authentication system for strengthening the security of user personal information required for connection to a service server according to an embodiment of the present invention is configured to include an authentication server and an authentication application installed on a user terminal for connection to the authentication server, wherein the authentication application receives and stores user personal information from a user, displays a list of service servers accessible to the user, and, after the user selects a service server to which the user wishes to connect from the list of service servers, encrypts the stored personal information for the first time using a public key of the selected service server, encrypts the first-encrypted personal information for the second time using a public key of the authentication server, and transmits the second-encrypted personal information to the authentication server, and the authentication server generates a login code corresponding to the second-encrypted personal information received from the authentication application and transmits the login code to the authentication application, and the list of accessible service servers may be configured to be determined in advance by the authentication server.

[0019] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a security-enhanced authentication system can perform an operation for logging into a service server authenticated with a security token (i.e., a login code). In this case, personal information may not be stored on the service server, depending on the service server operator's choice. Since the service server can minimize the storage of personal information of users within the server, the service server operator can reduce the burden of storing and maintaining personal information. Furthermore, the service server operator can omit the membership registration form that was typically required when designing a platform for service provision. This is because the service server operator can obtain the necessary personal information from users even without requesting personal information through the membership registration form. Furthermore, a service server that has not been pre-authenticated by the authentication server according to an embodiment of the present invention cannot request personal information from users. This prevents users from entering their personal information on malicious service servers, such as phishing sites, and thus the leakage of their personal information. From the user's perspective, the inconvenience of entering personal information for each service server, registering for membership, and logging in can be avoided. Therefore, a security-enhanced authentication system with enhanced security for users' personal information can be provided.

[0020] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a security-enhanced authentication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0021] Figures 2a and 2b illustrate an embodiment of entering personal information through a first application.

[0022] Figure 3 illustrates a flowchart for the update operation of the first application.

[0023] Figures 4a to 4d illustrate embodiments in which a first server returns a login code for a corresponding service based on personal information and additional personal information.

[0024] FIGS. 5A to 5D illustrate an embodiment in which a first server performs an operation for login by verifying a received login code.

[0025] Figure 6 illustrates a flowchart in which a first server retransmits encrypted user information to a service server based on a login code validity period determined by a first application.

[0026] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described clearly and in detail to the extent that a person having ordinary skill in the art can easily practice the present invention.

[0027] The security-enhanced authentication system referred to in this specification may mean a system including an authentication server and a first application installed on a user terminal for connecting to the authentication server and transmitting and receiving data with the authentication server.

[0028] The security-enhanced authentication system referred to in this specification utilizes a general public key infrastructure (PKI), and through this general public key infrastructure (PKI), components included in the security-enhanced authentication system can encrypt data using a public key and decrypt it using a private key (or secret key).

[0029] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a security-enhanced authentication system (100) according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the security-enhanced authentication system (100) may include a first application (110) installed on a user terminal (10), and an authentication server (120) that transmits and receives data necessary for operation of the authentication system in conjunction with the first application (110).

[0030] The user terminal (10) typically refers to a smartphone, but is not limited thereto. The user terminal (10) may be any device that can install and execute an application through a conventionally accessible online store, including a processor, memory, communication interface, and user interface, and can transmit and receive data by linking with an authentication server (120) via wired or wireless communication. The user terminal (10) may be a device that can perform user authentication through mobile carrier authentication according to a conventional method.

[0031] In addition to the first application (110), the user terminal (10) may additionally include a second application (12) for accessing the service server (13). However, the second application (12) for accessing the service server (13) is not necessarily limited to being installed on the same device as the first application (110), and the user may install and execute the second application (12) for accessing the service server (13) on a different device. For example, the user may execute the first application (110) on the first user terminal while executing the second application (12) for accessing the service server (13) on the second user terminal.

[0032] When the first application (110) and the second application (12) are installed on the same device, each application can be operated and driven according to user input inputted through the user interface (11) provided on the user terminal (10). Meanwhile, when the first application (110) and the second application (12) are installed on separate devices, the user can access the first application (110) and / or the second application (12) through the user interface (11) of each device.

[0033] The first application (110) and the second application (12) can be downloaded and installed on the user terminal (10) in a conventional manner by accessing a downloadable path, respectively. For example, the first application (110) can be downloaded from an online store designated by an authentication server (120) and installed on the user terminal (10), and the second application (12) can be downloaded from an online store designated by a service server (13) and installed on the user terminal (10). The first application (110) can be referred to as an authentication application. The second application (12) can be referred to as a service access application.

[0034] The authentication server (120) may be a typical server device (e.g., a device that may include a computer processor, memory, storage, input devices and output devices, and other components of a conventional computing device; an electronic communication device such as a router, a switch, and the like; an electronic information storage system such as a network attached storage (NAS) and a storage area network (SAN)) that may perform the security-enhanced authentication method according to the present invention using a combination of computer software (i.e., instructions that cause a computing device to function in a specific manner), and such a server device may include a communication interface and may communicate with a user terminal (10) to send and receive data.

[0035] A processor (not shown) may include hardware components such as a Micro Processing Unit (MPU) or a Central Processing Unit (CPU), cache memory, and a data bus. It may also include software components such as an operating system and applications for specific purposes.

[0036] The authentication server (120) may include a first server (121) and a second server (122). The first server (121) may be a server for recording encrypted user information, assigning a login code to the first application (110), and providing the encrypted user information to the service server (13).

[0037] The second server (122) may be a server that receives and manages data required for the operation of the authentication system from the service server and updates data held by the first application (110) of the user terminal (10) based on the data. Hereinafter, the first and second servers (121, 122) are described as two for convenience according to the functions each performs, but are not limited thereto and may be operated as a single server.

[0038] The first server (121) can perform wired / wireless and / or remote communication with the first application (110) and the service server (13). The first server (121) can transmit and receive data required for authentication between the first application (110) and the service server (13) so that the user can access the service server (13) and use the service. That is, the first server (121) can receive encrypted personal information in conjunction with the first application (110) installed on the user terminal (10) and transmit a login code for accessing a specific service server (13), and then, after the user accesses the service server (13) through the second application (12) and inputs the login code, the first server (121) can receive the login code from the service server (13) and transmit the encrypted personal information to the service server (13).

[0039] Meanwhile, the first server (121) may transmit and receive additional information in conjunction with the first application (110) and the service server (13). In one embodiment, if the first server (121) determines that additional information input by the user is required for accessing a specific service server, it may request the first application (110) to input additional information and additionally receive the corresponding information. In one embodiment, the additional information may be additional personal information requested by the service server or setting information such as the login code validity period. In one embodiment, the first server (121) may also set the validity period of the login code transmitted to the first application (110) based on the additional information received from the first application (110).

[0040] Additionally, the first server (121) can store and manage encrypted user personal information received from the first application (110). In one embodiment, the first server (121) may delete some or all of the encrypted user personal information upon completion of a series of processes, or may temporarily retain some of the personal information by setting conditions according to the implementation of additional functions.

[0041] The second server (122) may be a server for transmitting and receiving data by linking with the first application (110) and the service server (13) via wired / wireless and / or remote communication. The second server (122) may manage public key information of the user terminal, the authentication server, and the service server so that the first application (110) and the first server (121) can smoothly perform encryption and decryption using the public key of the device that is the data receiving target. That is, the second server (122) links with the first application (110) and each service server (13) to receive, store, and manage the public key of the authentication server (120), the public key of the user terminal (10), and the public key of the service server (13), and may update the public key information of the authentication server or the service server stored in the first application (110) as needed.

[0042] Additionally, the second server (122) may be a server that receives, stores, and manages a list of personal information of users required to access the service server (13) from each service server (13). A detailed description of this will be provided later.

[0043] Figures 2a and 2b illustrate an embodiment of entering personal information through a first application (210). For example, the user terminal (20) and authentication server (220) of Figure 2a may correspond to the user terminal (10) and authentication server (120) of Figure 1, respectively. Therefore, redundant descriptions of similar components and operations are omitted. For convenience, Figure 2a illustrates only the components necessary for entering personal information in the enhanced security authentication system (100) of Figure 1.

[0044] Figure 2a illustrates a block diagram of a security-enhanced authentication system in which a first application (210) performs operations for membership registration and / or login based on user input via a user interface (21). Figure 2b illustrates a screen on the first application (210) where personal information can be entered for membership registration and / or login.

[0045] Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B , personal information required for service access may be stored in the first application (210) based on user input via the user interface (21) provided on the user terminal (20). Personal information required for service access may include name, email, phone number, date of birth, and resident registration number, and may include an ID and password as information regarding an account the user wishes to use in the service, but is not limited thereto, and may include any information that can be viewed as unique information of a specific individual in relation to service access.

[0046] In one embodiment, the user's personal information may be pre-entered and stored through the user interface (21) of the user terminal (20) after the first application (210) is installed. In one embodiment, the user's personal information may be entered through the user interface (21) of the user terminal (20) when the first application (210) is executed and a login code for a specific service server is requested, and some personal information selected according to the user input may be stored ("storage" in FIG. 2b).

[0047] In one embodiment, the personal information input screen may be configured to be input immediately after executing the first application (210), but is not limited thereto.

[0048] In FIG. 2b, only the user's personal information such as name, date of birth, and email are exemplarily shown, but the user's personal information that can be stored in the first application (210) through user input is not limited thereto.

[0049] After the first application (210) receives personal information from a user, the first application (210) can verify the entered personal information (e.g., an email address in FIG. 2b) and perform identity verification ("verification" in FIG. 2b). For example, the first application (210) can perform identity verification using conventional methods such as email verification, Kakao verification, Naver verification, or various telecommunications company verification. The first application (210) can store the personal information for which identity verification has been performed.

[0050] FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of the update operation of a first application (310). For example, the first application (310), the second server (322), and the service server (33) of FIG. 3 may correspond to the first application (110), the second server (122), and the service server (13) of FIG. 1 , respectively. Therefore, redundant descriptions of similar components and operations are omitted. For convenience, FIG. 3 illustrates only the components necessary for application update.

[0051] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, the second server (322) can receive, store, and manage the public key of each service server (33) in conjunction with the service server (33). The public key of the service server (33) received, stored, and managed by the second server (322) can be used to encrypt data transmitted by the authentication server (120) to the service server (33).

[0052] Additionally, the second server (322) can transmit public key information of each service server (33) to the first application (310) in conjunction with the first application (310). The public key received by the first application (310) from the second server (322) can be used to encrypt personal information to be transmitted by the first application (310) to the service server (33) that is the target of the login code request.

[0053] In addition, the second server (322) can check the public key information of the service server (33) held by the first application (310) and, if an update is required, send public key update information to the first application (310) to update the public key information of the first application (310).

[0054] Meanwhile, the second server (322) can receive from the service server (33) a list of additional personal information (or a list of required information) that must be entered by the user in order to access the service server (33).

[0055] The list of additional personal information received by the second server (322) from a specific service server (33) can be used to determine whether to request additional personal information input when the authentication server (120) receives a login code request from the first application (310) to the service server (33), and to request the first application (310) to input the additional personal information.

[0056] Alternatively, the first application (310) may receive a list of additional personal information requested from a specific service server (33) from the second server (322) based on an application update.

[0057] The process of the second server (322) transmitting and receiving the public key information of the service server (33) or the list of additional personal information requested by the service server (33) in conjunction with the service server (33) and the first application (310) can be represented by S31 to S34.

[0058] At step S31, the second server (322) can receive data from the service server (33) regarding the service server public key and a list of personal information required to access the service server.

[0059] The required information list may include additional personal information items required for using the service server (33) in addition to the user's personal information (see FIGS. 2A and 2B). The required information list may be periodically updated by the service server (33). An example of the required information list received by the second server (322) from the service server (33) is described below in FIG. 4C.

[0060] At step S32, the second server (322) may receive and register the service server public key and then update the authentication system version information. In addition to the authentication system version information, the second server (322) may also include the authentication server public key and the authentication server private key.

[0061] In one embodiment, the authentication server public key may be stored in the first application (310) when the first application (310) is installed on the user terminal (10), or the second server (322) may transmit the authentication server public key to the first application (310) in conjunction with the first application (310).

[0062] Additionally, the authentication server public key may be generated for each service server and provided in the form of a different key for each service server by the second server (322). A detailed description of the authentication server public key is provided below in FIG. 5a.

[0063] In step S33, the second server (322) may be configured to transmit the service server public key information received from the service server (33) to the first application (310), so that the service server public key information stored in the first application (310) may be updated. In one embodiment, the service server public key of the first application (310) may be updated based on an application update running on a user terminal.

[0064] For example, the authentication server public key, authentication server private key, service server public key, and service server private key may each be, but are not limited to, thousands of bits of data.

[0065] In step S34, the second server (322) may be configured to transmit a list of user personal information (e.g., a list of required information) required for connection to a service server, received from the service server (33), to the first application (310), so that the user can input the user personal information when the corresponding service server is selected in the first application (310). In one embodiment, the second server (322) may store the list of user personal information required for connection to a service server, received from the service server (33), and then, when a service server is selected in the first application (310), transmit the list of user personal information for connection to the corresponding service server according to the selected service server.

[0066] Figures 4a to 4d illustrate an embodiment in which a first server (421) returns a login code for the service based on personal information and additional personal information.

[0067] For example, the first application (410) and the first server (421) of FIG. 4A may correspond to the first application (110) and the first server (121) of FIG. 1, respectively. Therefore, redundant descriptions of similar components and similar operations are omitted. For convenience, FIG. 4A only illustrates the components necessary for returning a login code in the enhanced security authentication system (100) of FIG. 1.

[0068] FIG. 4a illustrates a flowchart of a first server (421) receiving encrypted user personal information from a first application (410) and transmitting a login code to the first application (410) in response thereto. FIG. 4b illustrates an embodiment of a screen on the first application (410) for searching and selecting services for membership registration and / or login. FIG. 4c illustrates an embodiment of a screen for entering additional personal information for membership registration and / or login that is additionally requested by the corresponding service server. FIG. 4d illustrates an embodiment of a login code returned by the first server (421).

[0069] As described below, the first application (410) may be configured to transmit the public key of the user terminal to the first server (421), so that when the first server (421) transmits data (e.g., a login code) to the first application (410), the data may be encrypted with the public key of the user terminal. In this case, when the first application (410) is executed through the user terminal, the user terminal public key and the user terminal private key may be automatically generated. Alternatively, the user terminal public key and the user terminal private key may be automatically generated when the first application (410) is installed on the user terminal.

[0070] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4A to 4D , at step S41, the first application (410) may pre-enter and store the user's personal information required for accessing the service server when executing the first application (410). After the user's personal information is entered, it may be stored after completing the user authentication process using a conventional method. A detailed description of any content that overlaps with that described in FIG. 2B will be omitted.

[0071] At step S42, the first application (410) can search for and select a service server to which the user wishes to connect from a list of service servers.

[0072] For example, a list of service servers that the user can access is displayed on a screen of the first application (410) output through the user interface (11) of the user terminal (10), and one of the first to third services can be selected through user input such as logging in (see FIG. 4b) for a service server that the user wishes to access from among the service servers displayed in the list.

[0073] The list of service servers that the first application (410) of the user terminal (10) can access using the login code received from the authentication server (120) may be determined in advance by the authentication server (120) (e.g., authenticated in advance by the authentication server (120). The first application (410) may provide the list of service servers that can be accessed using the login code received from the authentication server (120) to the user by displaying it through the user interface (11) of the user terminal (10).

[0074] In one embodiment, when a service server is searched and selected based on user input in the first application (410), the first server (421) may determine whether to request additional personal information input from the first application (410) for the selected service server, and may also request a list of additional personal information received from a specific service server from the first application (410).

[0075] At step S43, the first application (410) may receive information from the user regarding additional personal information request items required for service server access. Based on a list of required information requested from the service server providing the selected service (see FIG. 3), additional personal information request items (e.g., including but not limited to ID, resident registration number, and password, and including any information corresponding to personal information) may be displayed through the user interface (11) of the user terminal (10).

[0076] For example, if additional personal information needs to be entered to access a specific service server, a screen like FIG. 4c may be provided to the user through user input, such as logging in (see FIG. 4b), and information regarding additional personal information request items may be entered into the first application (410) based on the user input. In one embodiment, the first application (410) may store the entered additional personal information according to a selection made by the user ("Save" in FIG. 4c). This is as described above with reference to FIG. 2.

[0077] After the first application (410) receives additional personal information from the user, the first application (410) can verify the additional personal information (e.g., resident registration number in FIG. 4C) and perform identity verification ("verification" in FIG. 4C). The first application (410) can also store the additional personal information for which identity verification has been performed. For example, the first application (410) can perform identity verification using a conventional method, such as resident registration number verification, Kakao verification, Naver verification, or various telecommunications company verification, for the entered personal information. The first application (410) can also store the additional personal information for which identity verification has been performed.

[0078] At step S44, the first application (410) can use the service server public key to perform primary encryption on the stored personal information (see FIGS. 2A and 2B) and additional stored personal information. The service server public key may be already stored when the first application (410) is installed, or may be provided to the first application (410) by the second server (122) and stored therein after the first application (410) is installed.

[0079] At step S45, the first application (410) can secondarily encrypt personal information and additional personal information encrypted with the service server public key using the authentication server public key. The authentication server public key may be already stored when the first application (410) is installed, or may be provided to the first application (410) by the second server (122) and stored thereafter.

[0080] At step S46, the first application (410) can transmit secondary encrypted information (information encrypted with the service server public key and the authentication server public key) to the first server (421). The first application (410) can provide the secondary encrypted information to the first server (421) based on a user input, such as a login (login in FIG. 4c).

[0081] In one embodiment, if the service server providing the selected service does not request additional personal information other than the pre-stored personal information of the user (see FIGS. 2a and 2b), the process for entering additional personal information (S43) as described above may be omitted and steps S44 to S46 may be performed.

[0082] That is, the first application (410) can use the service server public key to encrypt stored personal information for the first time, and use the authentication server public key to secondarily encrypt the first-encrypted personal information. The first application (410) can provide the second-encrypted personal information to the first server (421) based on user input, such as login (login in FIG. 4b).

[0083] In one embodiment, the first application (410) may transmit service server verification information (not shown) that can specify a selected service server to the first server (421) together with secondarily encrypted personal information. The service server verification information (not shown) that the first server (421) receives from the first application (410) may be used to verify whether the service server (13) matches the service server (13) that the first application (410) wishes to connect to when the first server (421) receives the login code from the service server (13), as described below.

[0084] In one embodiment, the first server (421) may receive the public key of the user terminal along with the second-encrypted personal information from the first application (410). The first application (410) may encrypt the public key of the user terminal with the public key of the authentication server and transmit it. The public key of the user terminal received by the first server (421) may be used to encrypt a login code to be transmitted to the first application (410), as described below.

[0085] In one embodiment, the first server (421) may additionally receive login code validity time information encrypted with the authentication server public key from the first application (410). The first application (410) may receive login code validity time information based on user input, encrypt the information with the authentication server public key, and then transmit the information to the first server (421). The first server (421) may decrypt the received login code validity time information with the authentication server private key, and set the validity time of the login code transmitted to the first application (410) for a specific service server based on the login code validity time information. A detailed description thereof will be described later in FIG. 6.

[0086] At step S47, the first server (421) can decrypt the encrypted data received from the first application (410) with the authentication server private key. The decrypted data can be temporarily stored in the first server (421) for later transmission to the service server (13). In one embodiment, the first server (421) can store the encrypted data received from the first application (410) in the first server (421) without decrypting it until a valid login code is received from the service server (13) later. Meanwhile, the first server (421) can decrypt the encrypted user terminal public key received from the first application (410) with the authentication server private key.

[0087] At step S48, the first server (421) can confirm (e.g., verify) the user identity based on the data received and decrypted from the first application (410). The first server (421) can verify the identity by comparing the data received this time with previously recorded data based on at least one of data encrypted with the user terminal public key service server public key or the first application access log record. Note that step S48 may be applied selectively.

[0088] In step S49, the first server (421) may generate a login code for accessing the service server in response to the secondarily encrypted personal information received from the first application (410) and transmit the generated login code to the first application (410). In one embodiment, the first server (421) may encrypt the login code with the user terminal public key and transmit it to the first application (410). In one embodiment, the first server (421) may store the generated login code. In one embodiment, the first server (421) may be configured to firstly decrypt the secondarily encrypted personal information with the authentication server private key and store it together with the login code. As described below, the first server (421) may compare the stored login code with a login code received from the service server (421) at a later time to determine whether to transmit the encrypted personal information received from the first application (410) to the service server (421).

[0089] As illustrated in FIG. 4D , in one embodiment, the login code may be generated using a conventional random number generation method or may include a randomly extracted string. Although not illustrated, the login code may further include an index code in addition to the randomly extracted string. For example, the index code may be composed of a string of numbers written in Arabic numerals. In one embodiment, the login code may include a string that includes at least a portion of the secondarily encrypted personal information received by the first server (421) or the user's personal information received and decrypted by the first server (421) (i.e., the user's personal information encrypted with the service server's public key). For example, as illustrated in FIG. 4D , the string may be "F1jngcVU=". However, the configuration of the login code is not limited thereto.

[0090] In one embodiment, the first application (410) can display a login code on the user terminal (10) through the user interface (11). If the first server (421) encrypts the login code with the user terminal public key and transmits it, the first application (410) can decrypt it with the user terminal private key and display it on the user terminal (10).

[0091] FIGS. 5A to 5D illustrate an embodiment in which a first server (521) performs an operation for login by verifying a received login code.

[0092] For example, the second application (52), the first server (521), and the service server (53) of FIG. 5A may correspond to the second application (12), the first server (121), and the service server (13) of FIG. 1, respectively. Therefore, redundant descriptions of similar components and similar operations are omitted. For convenience, FIG. 5A illustrates only the components necessary for login code verification.

[0093] Figure 5a shows a flowchart showing an operation in which a service server (53) communicates with a first server (521) to allow the user access to the service server (53) after the user enters a login code through a second application (52).

[0094] Figure 5b illustrates a screen on a second application (52) where a user can enter a decrypted login code. Figure 5c illustrates a screen on a second application (52) where a decrypted login code has been entered. Figure 5d illustrates a screen on a second application (52) indicating that access to the service server (53) has been granted.

[0095] In FIG. 5b, the user can access the second application (52) installed on the user terminal and select a service server access method using a login code, and in FIG. 5c, the user can input the login code received from the first application on the second application screen as shown in FIG. 5b. Since the user only needs to input the login code received from the first application, rather than the existing method of entering an ID and password or using a user authentication method, the simplicity of the login process can be enhanced. In addition, as described below, personal information required for service server access is encrypted and transmitted, thereby reducing the burden on the user of having to input information one by one for membership registration after accessing the service server. In some cases, personal information may be leaked when entering personal information on a phishing site. However, according to the present invention, since there is no need to enter personal information during the service server access stage, the above-mentioned leak concern can be resolved. Depending on the service server operator, the service server may request additional personal information to authenticate the user, but it is advantageous in that the requested information can still be minimized.

[0096] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 5A to 5D, in step S51, the first server (521) may receive a login code from the service server (53). In one embodiment, the service server (53) may encrypt the login code with the authentication server public key before transmitting the login code to the first server (521). In one embodiment, if the login code is encrypted with the authentication server public key, the first server (521) may decrypt the encrypted login code with the authentication server private key.

[0097] At step S52, the first server (521) can verify the validity of the login code received from the service server (53). The verification of the validity of the login code may include verification of the identity of the login code and verification of the identity of the transmitting entity and the requesting entity.

[0098] Through login code identity verification, the first server (521) can verify the login code received from the service server (53) together with the login code transmitted to the first application (110).

[0099] In addition, by verifying the identity of the transmitting subject and the requesting subject, the first server (521) can determine whether the subject (service server (53)) that transmitted the login code is the same as the subject that requested the login code and was selected as the service server to be accessed by the first application (110).

[0100] This identity determination may be made by comparing whether the service server verification information (not shown) received from the first application by the first server (521) and the service server that sent the login code are the same.

[0101] This prevents attempts to steal data containing the user's personal information by obtaining the login code from a third-party server other than the one the user is trying to access.

[0102] At step S53, the first server (521) can transmit the user's personal information received from the first application and decrypted with the private key of the authentication server (i.e., the user's personal information encrypted with the public key of the service server, see FIG. 4a) to the service server (53).

[0103] At step S54, after providing the user's personal information to the service server (53), the first server (521) may delete all or part of the encrypted user's personal information received and stored from the first application. This is to prevent data encrypted by the first application for transmission to the service server (53) from being left in its entirety or intact on the first server (521). Accordingly, the risk of personal information being leaked by the first server (521) can also be reduced.

[0104] In one embodiment, even after the first server (521) decrypts the user's personal information using the authentication server's private key and transmits it to the service server (53), the encrypted user's personal information received and stored from the first application may be retained without being deleted to implement additional functions. For example, as described later in FIG. 6, the encrypted user's personal information may be retained to retransmit the user's personal information to the service server (53) for the duration of the login code's validity.

[0105] In one embodiment, even if the first server (521) deletes all or part of the user's personal information after transmitting the information to the service server (53), the first server (521) may store at least one of a record regarding whether the first application requested a login code from the first server (521) and generated and transmitted the login code, a record regarding whether the service server (53) requested encrypted user personal information by transmitting the login code, and a record regarding whether the first server (521) transmitted encrypted user personal information in response to the login code of the service server (53).

[0106] For example, the first server (521) may store information in a manner that stores log records including the target and time of sending and receiving data, but deletes the sent and received data itself, but is not limited thereto.

[0107] Thereafter, the service server (53) decrypts the user's personal information received from the first server (521) with the service server's private key, verifies the user's personal information required for service use, and allows the user to access the service server (53) and use the service.

[0108] From the service server (53)'s perspective, the user's personal information required for service server access can be received and verified each time without the user's cumbersome input. Therefore, even if the user's personal information is not necessarily stored, there is no need to store it on the service server. Accordingly, the service server (53) operator can reduce the costs that may arise from storing the user's personal information and also alleviate concerns about personal information leakage. Furthermore, from the service server operator's perspective, it is advantageous in that the form or procedure for membership registration can be omitted when designing the service.

[0109] Meanwhile, the service server (53) can determine whether the user's personal information has been modified even without storing the decrypted version of the user's personal information. This is because the user's personal information is stored in an encrypted state using the service server's public key, and can be determined simply by comparing it with the user's newly received personal information. In this case, the user's personal information remains encrypted, so even if it is exposed to a third party, the risk of personal information being leaked is reduced.

[0110] As illustrated in FIG. 5d, in step S55, if the user's personal information received by the service server matches the personal information already stored in the service server, the service server (53) may approve the login for the second application (52). In this case, the service server (53) may provide a login screen for the second application (52), and a message saying "Welcome!" may be displayed along with the ID. This may mean that the user's access to the service server (53) is permitted (login approved) and the user can use the service. Meanwhile, the service server (53) may be configured to check whether the user has registered for membership when connecting for the first time, proceed with the membership registration process, and then log in.

[0111] Figure 6 shows a flowchart in which a first server (621) retransmits encrypted user information to a service server (63) based on a login code validity period determined by a first application.

[0112] At step S61, validity time information may be entered into the first application (610) based on user input. The validity time information may include information regarding the validity time of the login code. The validity time information may be entered as additional information requested by the service server (63) (see FIGS. 4A and 4C ). The validity time information may be encrypted using the authentication server public key and transmitted to the first server (621).

[0113] At step S62, the first server (421) can set the valid time of the login code to be transmitted to the first application (610) based on information about the valid time of the login code.

[0114] At step S63, the first server (621) may transmit a login code to the first application (610). In one embodiment, the login code may be transmitted encrypted using the user terminal's public key. This encrypted login code may be decrypted using the user terminal's private key and provided to the user. The user may access the service server (63) by entering the login code through the second application. At this time, if the login is canceled according to the settings of the second application, the user may attempt to re-access the service server (63) using the same login code as before.

[0115] At step S64, the first server (621) may receive a login code from the service server (63). In one embodiment, the service server (63) may encrypt the login code using the authentication server public key and then transmit it to the first server (621).

[0116] At step S65, the first server (621) can determine whether the login code validity period has expired for the received login code. The first server (621) can perform login code validity period verification as one of the login code validity verifications (see FIG. 5a).

[0117] The first server (621) may store information encrypted by the service server public key until the login code validity period expires. That is, the first server (621) may have encrypted user information within the limit required for login.

[0118] At step S66, if it is determined that the login code validity period has not expired, the first server (621) can retransmit personal information encrypted by the service server public key to the service server (63).

[0119] In one embodiment, if the login code validity period has expired, the first server (621) may delete all or part of the user access information stored in the first server (621) after providing the user information to the service server (63). However, the first server (621) may store a record of whether the first application (610) requested a login code from the first server (621) and generated and transmitted the login code. A detailed description of the overlapping content described in FIGS. 5A to 5D is omitted.

[0120] The above-described embodiments are specific examples for practicing the present invention. The present invention will encompass not only the embodiments described above, but also embodiments that can be easily modified or modified. Furthermore, the present invention will encompass techniques that can be easily modified and implemented using the embodiments described above. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the above-described embodiments, but should be defined not only by the claims set forth below, but also by equivalents of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. An authentication method that strengthens the security of a user's personal information required for accessing a service server by using an authentication server and an authentication application installed on a user terminal to access the authentication server. A step in which the above authentication application receives and stores personal information from a user; A step of displaying a list of service servers to which the above authentication application can connect; A step in which the above authentication application receives a user's selection of a service server to which the user wishes to connect from a list of service servers; A step in which the above authentication application first encrypts the stored personal information using the public key of the selected service server, and secondarily encrypts the first-encrypted personal information using the public key of the authentication server; A step in which the above authentication application transmits the second encrypted personal information to the authentication server; A step in which the authentication server generates a login code in response to the second encrypted personal information received from the authentication application; and The step of the authentication server sending the login code to the authentication application is included, An authentication method in which the list of accessible service servers is configured to be predetermined by the authentication server.

2. In paragraph 1, After the step where the authentication server provides the login code to the authentication application, A step in which the authentication server receives the login code from the service server; A step in which the authentication server verifies the login code received from the service server together with the login code sent to the authentication application to determine whether it is valid; and An authentication method further comprising a step of transmitting personal information decrypted for the first time with the private key of the authentication server together with the login code to the service server when the login code received from the service server is determined to be valid.

3. In paragraph 2, After the above authentication server sends the first decrypted personal information to the service server, The above authentication server further includes a step of deleting all or part of the first decrypted personal information from the authentication server, An authentication method in which the above authentication server is configured to preserve at least one of a login code generation log, a transmission log to a user terminal, and a login code reception log from a service server.

4. In paragraph 1, A step in which the authentication server receives a public key of a service server from each service server in the predetermined list of service servers; and An authentication method further comprising a step of transmitting data so that the service server public key information stored in the authentication application can be updated according to the service server public key information received by the authentication server.

5. In paragraph 1, The step of the above authentication application sending the second encrypted personal information to the authentication server is: The authentication application further includes a step of encrypting the public key of the user terminal with the public key of the authentication server and transmitting the encrypted public key, An authentication method in which the above authentication server is configured to decrypt the public key of the encrypted user terminal received from the authentication application with the private key of the above authentication server.

6. In paragraph 1 or paragraph 5, The steps to send the above login code are: The authentication server further includes a step of encrypting the login code with the public key of the user terminal and transmitting the encrypted login code, An authentication method in which an authentication application is configured to decrypt a login code received from an authentication server using a secret key of the user terminal.

7. In paragraph 2, The step of the above authentication application sending the second encrypted personal information to the authentication server is: The above authentication application further comprises a step of transmitting information about the selected service server to the authentication server, The steps for the authentication server to verify the login code received from the service server and determine whether it is valid are: An authentication method further comprising a step of determining whether the service server to be verified corresponds to the information about the selected service server received from the authentication application.

8. In paragraph 1, If the selected service server requires you to enter additional personal information, After the step of selecting the service server to which the user wishes to connect, the authentication application is configured to receive additional personal information from the user. The above secondary encryption is an authentication method configured to secondary encrypt additional personal information together with the personal information stored in the above authentication application.

9. In paragraph 8, An authentication method in which the authentication server receives a list of necessary information from the service server and is configured to transmit information on whether the authentication application requires additional personal information input from the user depending on the selected service server.

10. In paragraph 1, An authentication method wherein the login code is configured to further include a string including at least a portion of the second encrypted personal information received by the authentication server or the personal information received and decrypted by the authentication server.

11. In paragraph 1, The step of the above authentication application sending the second encrypted personal information to the authentication server is: The above authentication application further includes a step of encrypting information about the validity period of a login code entered by a user using the public key of the authentication server and transmitting the encrypted information, An authentication method in which the above authentication server is configured to set a valid time for a login code sent to the above authentication application based on information about the valid time for the above login code.

12. An authentication system that strengthens the security of a user's personal information required for accessing a service server, wherein the authentication system is configured to include an authentication server and an authentication application installed on a user terminal to access the authentication server. The above authentication application is configured to receive and store the user's personal information, display a list of service servers that the user can access, and, after the user selects a service server to which the user wishes to access from the list of service servers, first encrypt the stored personal information using the public key of the selected service server, second encrypt the first-encrypted personal information using the public key of the authentication server, and transmit the second-encrypted personal information to the authentication server. The above authentication server is configured to generate a login code corresponding to the second encrypted personal information received from the authentication application and transmit the login code to the authentication application. An authentication system configured such that the list of accessible service servers is predetermined by the authentication server.

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