External Authentication Site for Web Application Security
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Solution Overview
Problem
Implementing multi-factor authentication in existing web-based applications is time and cost prohibitive, as retrofitting with binding and validation processes can take up to six months, highlighting the need for a more efficient mechanism to enhance security.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method that provides strong authentication for web-based applications by modifying their functionality through an authentication code, which directs users to an external authentication site for credential binding and validation, without altering the existing application's binary, using aspect-oriented programming and instrumented code libraries to integrate with the application's controller and view layers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multi-factor authentication is implemented by retrofitting existing web-based applications with binding and validation processes, then authentication security is improved, but implementation time and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an external authentication site as an intermediary component that handles multi-factor authentication credentials independently from the existing web application. This mediator approach allows the application to benefit from enhanced security without requiring internal modifications, thus resolving the contradiction between improved security and reduced implementation time.
Solution Approach 2:
The authentication system is segmented into separate functional components: the existing web application remains unchanged while a separate external authentication site handles credential binding and validation. This segmentation allows independent deployment and implementation of multi-factor authentication without affecting the core application, thereby reducing implementation time and cost.
2Reliability
If multi-factor authentication is implemented by retrofitting existing web-based applications with binding and validation processes, then authentication security is improved, but implementation cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
By using an external authentication site as a mediator, the patent avoids the need to modify and recompile application binaries, which significantly reduces development and implementation costs. The intermediary handles all authentication logic externally, making the solution cost-effective while maintaining high security standards.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements authentication functionality through external code injection rather than modifying the core application. This copying approach allows the existing application to be used as-is while adding authentication capabilities through separate, injectable code components, thereby reducing implementation costs.
3Reliability
If authentication code is used to modify functionality of existing web-based application, then strong authentication is enabled, but application complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The external authentication site serves as a mediator that handles the complexity of multi-factor authentication protocols, credential binding, and validation. This isolates the complexity from the existing web application, allowing strong authentication to be implemented without significantly increasing the application's internal complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts authentication functionality from the existing application by implementing it through external code injection and a separate authentication site. This extraction removes the burden of managing authentication complexity from the application itself, thereby maintaining lower application complexity while still enabling strong authentication.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method may include providing authentication code for an existing web-based application. The authentication code may be programmed to modify functionality of the existing web-based application as the existing web-based application executes while leaving a binary of the existing web-based application unchanged. The method may also include establishing strong authentication for the existing web-based application by 1) identifying, via the authentication code, a request to bind an authentication credential to a profile of a user, the request being received via a browser through which the existing web-based application is accessed, 2) directing, via the authentication code and in response to the request, the browser to an external authentication site that is not part of the existing web-based application, and 3) at the external authentication site, enabling the user to bind the authentication credential to the profile. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.