User Indicia Authentication for Phishing Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current web security solutions are costly and ineffective in preventing phishing and identity theft, as they often require substantial deployment costs and do not provide secure authentication across multiple websites, especially for users who struggle with high entropy passwords.
Innovation Solution
A system that generates and displays a personalized user indicia within the web browser, which is recognizable to the user, combined with a credential strengthener that converts low entropy web credentials to higher entropy credentials, providing a low-cost and secure authentication method across multiple websites.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If users are required to use high entropy passwords for secure authentication, then security strength is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates as users have difficulty remembering and managing such credentials
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a visual indicator (image or icon) as an intermediary between the user and the authentication system. This indicator is displayed on the login page and serves as a mediator that users can recognize to verify they are on the legitimate website, eliminating the need for users to manage complex high-entropy passwords while maintaining security through visual authentication assistance.
2Reliability
If expensive and intrusive solutions are implemented to defeat phishing, then security against phishing is improved, but device complexity and deployment cost worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a simple, inexpensive visual indicator (such as a small image or icon) that can be easily implemented on web pages. This disposable-like element provides effective phishing protection without requiring complex infrastructure or high deployment costs, making security accessible to websites of all sizes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical or technical authentication systems with a simple visual display mechanism. Instead of using sophisticated cryptographic protocols or multi-factor authentication hardware, the solution substitutes a straightforward visual indicator that can be rendered by any web browser, dramatically reducing system complexity and deployment cost.
3Ease of operation
If recognizable images are used for authentication, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates if the images can be spoofed by phishing sites
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the principle of local quality by placing the visual indicator in a specific, consistent location on the authentication interface (such as near the login form or in a header section). This localized placement ensures that the indicator is always visible when users need to authenticate, providing ease of operation while maintaining reliability through its fixed, recognizable position that phishing sites would need to precisely replicate.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to systems and methods for providing a user indicia in a display at a local client browser. The user indicia is selected prior to a web transaction and is recognizable by the user. The user indicia is displayed in a web page of a web transaction during authentication. A user can recognize the user indicia prior to providing authentication information in a web transaction. An authentication system includes a web server that provides a web page having a security box identifier, and a client browser that receives the web page from the web server. In response to the security box identifier, the client browser inserts a user indicia into the received web page and outputs a modified web page including the user indicia for display.