Essay main body

The most popular authentication technique is entering a user name with a password However, majority of passwords are weak: easy to remember, thus, easier for dictionary and rainbow table attacks, since they consist of words and not of random symbols (Evans, 2018). Nonetheless, passwords have a list of advantages: they do not require a physical token; they are easy to learn, it is easy to understand how passwords work; and can be used on all platforms. Main disadvantages of passwords are: memorising effort, threat of physical observation, threat of phishing, threat of dictionary or rainbow table attacks (Bonneau et al., 2012).

 

There are three main approaches to authentication: to use the information user keeps in memory, for example password, pass phrase; to use a physical object, for instance plastic card, mobile phone; to use user’s behaviour or biometrical data, such as fingerprint, face scanning. However, such approaches are only more secure if they are combined together (Febrache, 2016). This is referred to as two/three factor authentication, for example an online payment, when bank sends user a code in SMS before the transaction is made, though user has entered the details of the physical token or banking card. Such approach guaranties higher level of security.

 

Some popular alternatives to passwords are graphical passwords, biometrical authentication, using password managers (Bošnjak and Brumen, 2019). Graphical passwords are considered to be easier to remember and to reduce memorizing effort. However, it requires more storage space and more time to authenticate. Moreover, graphical passwords are still weak against dictionary and brute-force attacks (Suo et al., 2005). Biometrical authentication is easy-to-use, and it eliminates the need to memorize information. However, the most concerning problems are possible data breaches that may lead to reidentification of users and deployment challenges. Most platforms are not able to implement and use biometrical authentication yet (Bošnjak and Brumen, 2019). Password managers minimise memorizing effort but suffer from lack of deployability, that affects convenience of use. Furthermore, using password managers either restricts user to one device or to one particular service. Moreover, it makes a user use a third party which may have that security implications (Bošnjak and Brumen, 2019).

Reference:

Bonneau, J. et al. (2012) ‘The Quest to Replace Passwords: A Framework for Comparative Evaluation of Web Authentication Schemes’, in. 2012 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, San Francisco, CA, USA: IEEE. doi:10.1109/SP.2012.44.

Bošnjak, L. and Brumen, B. (2019) ‘Rejecting the death of passwords: Advice for the future’, Computer Science and Information Systems, 16(1), pp. 313–332. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2298/CSIS180328016B (Accessed: 27 October 2021).

Evans, L. (2018) Cybersecurity: What do you need to know about computer and Cyber Securuty, Social Engineering, The Internet of things + An Essential guide to ethical hacking for begginers.

Febrache, D. (2016) ‘Passwords are broken – the future shape of biometrics’, Biometric Technology Today, 2016(3), pp. 5–7. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969476516300492 (Accessed: 27 October 2021).

Suo, X., Zhu, Y. and Owen, G.S. (2005) ‘Graphical passwords: a survey’, in. 21st Annual Computer Security Applications Conference, Tucson, AZ, USA: IEEE. doi:10.1109/CSAC.2005.27.