Cryptography-Based Authentication for Protecting Cyber Systems
Entity authentication is a fundamental building block for system security and has been widely used to protect cyber systems. Nonetheless, the role of cryptography in entity authentication is not very clear, although cryptography is known for providing confidentiality, integrity, and non-repudiation. This chapter studies the roles of cryptography in three entity authentication categories: knowledge-based authentication, token-based authentication, and biometric authentication. For these three authentication categories, we discuss (1) the roles of cryptography in the generation of password verification data, in password-based challenge/response authentication protocol, and in password-authenticated key exchange protocols; (2) the roles of cryptography in both symmetric key-based and private key-based token authentications; (3) cryptographic fuzzy extractors, which can be used to enhance the security and privacy of biometric authentication. This systematic study of the roles of cryptography in entity authentication will deepen our understanding of both cryptography and entity authentication and can help us better protect cyber systems.