Secure Authentication via Credential Puncturing Against Keylogging

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current authentication methods are vulnerable to attacks such as keylogging and man-in-the-middle attacks, as unauthorized users can easily gain access to protected resources by intercepting or spying on authentication credentials.

Innovation Solution

The addition of noise values to authentication credentials, followed by a puncturing process to generate multiple punctured authentication credentials, which are then compared to the stored credentials to determine a match, thereby obfuscating the original credential from ill-intentioned users.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If traditional authentication credentials are used, then ease of operation is maintained, but security is compromised due to vulnerability to keylogging and man-in-the-middle attacks

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveauthentication securityVSAvoidauthentication complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The authentication credential is segmented into multiple components by adding noise values at different positions. The system generates multiple punctured authentication credentials by removing different noise values, forcing attackers to compromise multiple segmented versions rather than a single credential.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Noise values act as intermediaries between the original authentication credential and the transmitted credential. These intermediary noise values obscure the true credential from attackers while allowing the system to recover the original credential through the puncturing process.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If noise values are added to authentication credentials, then security is improved by obfuscating the original credential, but device complexity increases due to the puncturing process

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveauthentication securityVSAvoidauthentication system complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs periodic puncturing operations by generating multiple punctured authentication credentials through systematic removal of noise values at different positions and iterations. This periodic generation of credential variations enhances security without requiring fundamentally new complex infrastructure.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #19Periodic action

Data Source

PatentEP3983914B1Secure authentication using puncturing
Publication Date: 2025.09.24 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC
  • EP3983914B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3983914B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3983914B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

Disclosed are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media for secure authentication using puncturing. An authentication system receives an encoded obfuscated authentication credential as part of an authentication request and accesses a stored authentication credential. The authentication system performs a puncturing of the encoded obfuscated authentication credential. The resulting punctured authentication credential includes a subset of individual values from the encoded obfuscated authentication credential. The authentication determines whether the punctured encoded data input corresponds to at least a portion of the stored authentication credential. In response to determining that the punctured encoded data input corresponds to at least a portion of the stored authentication credential, the authentication system approves the authentication request.