Abstract
M.Sc.(Computer Science)
The aim of this dissertation (referred to as thesis in the rest of the document) is to present authentication techniques that can be used to provide secure Internet commerce. The thesis presents techniques that can be used to authenticate human users at logon, as well as techniques that are used to authenticate user's PC and the host system during communication. In so doing, the thesis presents cryptography as the most popular approach to provide information security. Chapter 1 introduces the authentication problem, the purpose and the structure of the thesis. The inadequate security of the Internet prevents companies and users to conduct commerce over the Internet. Authentication is one of the means of providing secure Internet commerce. -
Chapter 2 provides an overview of the Internet by presenting the Internet history, Internet infrastructure and the current services that are available on the Internet. The chapter defines Internet commerce and presents some of the barriers to the Internet commerce.
Chapter 3 provides an overview of network and internetwork security model. The purpose of this chapter is to put authentication into perspective, in relation to the overall security model. Security attacks, security services and security mechanisms are defined in this chapter. The IBM Security Architecture is also presented.
Chapter 4 presents cryptography as the popular approach to information security. The conventional encryption and public-key encryption techniques are used to provide some of the security services described in chapter 3.
Chapter 5 presents various schemes that can be used to provide computer-to-computer authentication. These schemes are grouped into the following authentication functions: message encryption, cryptographic checksums, hash functions and digital signatures.
Chapter 6 differentiates between one-way authentication schemes and mutual authentication schemes. The applicability of each approach depends on the communicating parties.
Chapter 7 presents some of the popular and widely used open-systems technologies Internet protocols, which employ some of the schemes discussed in chapter 5 and chapter 6. These include the SSL, PCT, SHTTP, Kerberos, SESAME and SET.
Chapter 8 discusses some of the enabling technologies that are used to provide human user authentication in a computer system. The password technology, the biometric technologies and the smart card technology are discussed. The considerations of selecting a specific technology are also discussed.
Chapter 9 presents some of the techniques that can be used to authentication Internet users (human users) over the Internet. The techniques discussed are passwords, knowledge-based technique, voice recognition, smart cards, cellular based technique, and the technique that integrates Internet banking.
Chapter 10 defines criteria on which the Internet user authentication techniques presented in chapter 9 can be measured against. The evaluation of each of the techniques is made against the specified criteria. In fact, this chapter concludes the thesis.
Chapter 11 provides case studies on two of the techniques evaluated in chapter 10. Specifically, the insurance case study and the medical aid case studies are presented.