Secure Authentication via Encoded Keyword Transmission
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Solution Overview
Problem
In adverse environments, such as shared or public computers, users face significant risks of password theft due to hardware or software keystroke loggers, which can capture login credentials, leading to potential disruptions in various aspects of life, including financial and identity theft.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves authenticating users by receiving their password in a trusted user device, encoding it with a hash, and communicating the encoded keyword through a physical channel like audio or imagery, allowing secure comparison with a known hash stored on the computer, thereby bypassing the insecure keyboard entry.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If users enter passwords directly on public or shared computers, then authentication is simple and fast, but passwords can be intercepted by hardware or software keystroke loggers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary encoding mechanism that transforms the password into an encoded keyword before transmission. This intermediary layer prevents direct interception of the plain password by keystroke loggers, as the password is never entered directly into the compromised system. The encoding process acts as a mediator between the user's password and the authentication system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical keyboard entry system with an encoded communication mechanism. Instead of physically typing the password on a potentially compromised keyboard, the system substitutes this with an encoding process that generates an encoded keyword, which is then transmitted through alternative channels or processed in a way that bypasses the vulnerable mechanical input interface.
2Ease of operation
If users reuse the same password across multiple accounts, then it is easier to remember, but a stolen password can compromise multiple accounts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the password protection mechanism by introducing unique encoding parameters or salts for different accounts or authentication contexts. Even if users reuse base passwords for memorability, the encoding process applies different transformations or combines the password with account-specific data, ensuring that a stolen encoded keyword from one account cannot be used to authenticate to another account.
3Reliability
If hardware keystroke loggers are installed on public computers, then password interception is reliable, but detection and removal are difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by encoding the password before it enters the vulnerable system environment. The encoding occurs in advance on a trusted device or in memory, transforming the password into an encoded keyword that loses its direct meaning. This preliminary transformation ensures that even if a keystroke logger is installed, it captures only meaningless encoded data rather than the actual password.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of authenticating a user to a computer in an adverse environment includes receiving the user's password in a trusted user device, such as by the user typing the password, and encoding a keyword with a hash of the entered password to create an encoded keyword. The encoded keyword is sent from the trusted user device to the computer using a physical communication channel perceivable by the user; and the encoded keyword is compared in the computer with a keyword encoded with a known hash of the user's password in the computer to authenticate the user.