Biblio

The main objective of this research is to build upon existing cryptographic standards and web protocols to design an alternative multi-factor authentication cryptosystem for the web. It involves seed exchange to a software-based token through a login-protected Transport Layer Security (TLS/SSL) tunnel, encrypted local storage through a password-protected keystore (BC UBER) with a strong key derivation function (PBEWithSHAANDTwofish-CBC), and offline generation of one-time passwords through the TOTP algorithm (IETF RFC 6239). Authentication occurs through the use of a shared secret (the seed) to verify the correctness of the one-time password used to authenticate. With the traditional use of username and password no longer wholly adequate for protecting online accounts, and with regulators worldwide toughening up security requirements (i.e. BSP 808, FFIEC), this research hopes to increase research effort on further development of cryptosystems involving multi-factor authentication.