Editing Authentication (section)

=== Authentication types ===
[[File:KAL-55B Tactical Authentication System (Vietnam War era) - National Cryptologic Museum - DSC08013.JPG|thumb|NSA KAL-55B Tactical Authentication System used by the U.S. military during the [[Vietnam War]] – [[National Cryptologic Museum]]]]

==== Strong authentication ====
The United States government's [[National Information Assurance Glossary]] defines strong authentication as a layered authentication approach relying on two or more authenticators to establish the identity of an originator or receiver of information.<ref name="NCSC-StrongAuthentication">{{cite web|last1=Committee on National Security Systems|title=National Information Assurance (IA) Glossary|url=https://www.ncsc.gov/nittf/docs/CNSSI-4009_National_Information_Assurance.pdf|publisher=National Counterintelligence and Security Center|access-date=9 August 2016|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121224542/https://www.ncsc.gov/nittf/docs/CNSSI-4009_National_Information_Assurance.pdf|archive-date=21 November 2016}}</ref>

The European Central Bank (ECB) has defined strong authentication as "a procedure based on two or more of the three authentication factors". The factors that are used must be mutually independent and at least one factor must be "non-reusable and non-replicable", except in the case of an inherence factor and must also be incapable of being stolen off the Internet. In the European, as well as in the US-American understanding, strong authentication is very similar to multi-factor authentication or 2FA, but exceeding those with more rigorous requirements.<ref name="Turner-DigitalAuthentication-Basics" /><ref name="ECB-Recommendations">{{cite web|last1=European Central Bank|title=Recommendations for the Security of Internet Payments|url=https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/recommendationssecurityinternetpaymentsoutcomeofpcfinalversionafterpc201301en.pdf|publisher=European Central Bank|access-date=9 August 2016|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161106212218/https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/recommendationssecurityinternetpaymentsoutcomeofpcfinalversionafterpc201301en.pdf|archive-date=6 November 2016}}</ref>

The [[FIDO Alliance]] has been striving to establish technical specifications for strong authentication.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Seals |first=Tara |date=5 April 2016 |title=FIDO Alliance Passes 150 Post-Password Certified Products |url=https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/fido-alliance-passes-150/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240926182246/https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/fido-alliance-passes-150/ |archive-date=26 September 2024 |work=Infosecurity Magazine}}</ref>

==== Continuous authentication ====
Conventional computer systems authenticate users only at the initial log-in session, which can be the cause of a critical security flaw. To resolve this problem, systems need continuous user authentication methods that continuously monitor and authenticate users based on some biometric trait(s). A study used behavioural biometrics based on writing styles as a continuous authentication method.<ref name="BROC2017">Brocardo ML, Traore I, Woungang I, Obaidat MS. "[http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dac.3259/full Authorship verification using deep belief network systems] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170322015517/http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dac.3259/full |date=2017-03-22 }}". Int J Commun Syst. 2017. {{doi|10.1002/dac.3259}}</ref><ref name="Patel 49–61">{{Cite journal|last1=Patel|first1=Vishal M.|last2=Chellappa|first2=Rama|last3=Chandra|first3=Deepak|last4=Barbello|first4=Brandon|date=July 2016|title=Continuous User Authentication on Mobile Devices: Recent progress and remaining challenges|journal=IEEE Signal Processing Magazine|volume=33|issue=4|pages=49–61|doi=10.1109/msp.2016.2555335|bibcode=2016ISPM...33...49P|s2cid=14179050|issn=1053-5888}}</ref>

Recent research has shown the possibility of using smartphones sensors and accessories to extract some behavioral attributes such as touch dynamics, [[keystroke dynamics]] and [[gait recognition]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=De Marsico|first1=Maria|last2=Fartade|first2=Eduard Gabriel|last3=Mecca|first3=Alessio|chapter=Feature-based Analysis of Gait Signals for Biometric Recognition - Automatic Extraction and Selection of Features from Accelerometer Signals |date=2018|title=Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Pattern Recognition Applications and Methods|pages=630–637|publisher=SCITEPRESS - Science and Technology Publications|doi=10.5220/0006719106300637|isbn=978-989-758-276-9|doi-access=free}}</ref> These attributes are known as behavioral biometrics and could be used to verify or identify users implicitly and continuously on smartphones. The authentication systems that have been built based on these behavioral biometric traits are known as active or continuous authentication systems.<ref name="MAHFOUZ201728">{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1016/j.jisa.2017.10.002|title = A survey on behavioral biometric authentication on smartphones|journal = Journal of Information Security and Applications|volume = 37|pages = 28–37|year = 2017|last1 = Mahfouz|first1 = Ahmed|last2 = Mahmoud|first2 = Tarek M.|last3 = Eldin|first3 = Ahmed Sharaf|arxiv = 1801.09308|s2cid = 21265344}}</ref><ref name="Patel 49–61" />

==== Digital authentication ====
The term digital authentication, also known as [[electronic authentication]] or e-authentication, refers to a group of processes where the confidence for user identities is established and presented via electronic methods to an information system. The digital authentication process creates technical challenges because of the need to authenticate individuals or entities remotely over a network.
The American [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]] (NIST) has created a generic model for digital authentication that describes the processes that are used to accomplish secure authentication:

# Enrollment – an individual applies to a credential service provider (CSP) to initiate the enrollment process. After successfully proving the applicant's identity, the CSP allows the applicant to become a subscriber.
# Authentication – After becoming a subscriber, the user receives an [[authenticator]] e.g., a token and credentials, such as a user name. He or she is then permitted to perform online transactions within an authenticated session with a relying party, where they must provide proof that he or she possesses one or more authenticators.
# Life-cycle maintenance – the CSP is charged with the task of maintaining the user's credential over the course of its lifetime, while the subscriber is responsible for maintaining his or her authenticator(s).<ref name="Turner-DigitalAuthentication-Basics" /><ref name="NIST-Authentication">{{cite web|title=Draft NIST Special Publication 800-63-3: Digital Authentication Guideline|url=https://pages.nist.gov/800-63-3/sp800-63-3.html|publisher=National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA|access-date=9 August 2016|url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913153728/https://pages.nist.gov/800-63-3/sp800-63-3.html|archive-date=13 September 2016}}</ref>

The authentication of information can pose special problems with electronic communication, such as vulnerability to [[man-in-the-middle attack]]s, whereby a third party taps into the communication stream, and poses as each of the two other communicating parties, in order to intercept information from each. Extra identity factors can be required to authenticate each party's identity.