Walk into a module that will focus on authentication or in other words the mechanisms for establishing
the identity of users.
Let's start off by explaining the involve terms and concepts
authentication is a process of proving and verifying the identity of a user.
You can see an example of authentication evidence in the left side of the slide.
To be able to authenticate someone you need to have a reason for believing that that person claiming
to be Bob is really Bob a sufficient reason could be an identity document that contains a photograph
of its holder or a person who looks like them.
This doesn't mean that the person is who they claim to be the authenticity of the document should be
verified.
So if the issuer of the document is on your list of trusted entities identification on the other hand
is for example this simple claim.
My name is Tom.
Nothing else is needed.
There is no need to prove or confirm the claim.
Identification does not equal authentication
authorization.
In contrast to the two above concepts involves verifying if a person who has confirmed their identity
has successfully authenticated has an inappropriate level of permissions required to execute an operation.
Operating systems usually authenticate users only once as System log on authorization.
On the other hand is performed each time the user attempts to perform any operation run an application
open a document delete a file and so on.
Authentication can be applied to a user or a program or even to data.
The most common method for authenticating users which will probably remain popular for quite some time
is checking if they know a secret that nobody else should know.
This involves checking if a password entered in the log in screen is correct.
Authentication can also be performed in other ways.
You can for example authenticate a principle or person by ensuring they possess some data that is exclusive
to them.
This type of information is usually saved in private keys or stored on smart cards.
We'll go back to smartcards later
biometric authentication is another solution.
Biometrics is based on a person's distinctive features modern operating systems can implement the use
of all three techniques either separately or together.
The most common method is password authentication which we'll look into more closely in a moment.
Smartcards authentication is also very popular many computers including portable computers are equipped
with biometric readers.
They're less popular however and one could claim that they're less effective.
Authentication is a process of proving an identity with the use of a secret if something is to remain
secret it has to be changeable.
We should change our passwords more or less regularly.
It's also easy to issue a new certificate or renew an existing certificate.
It's harder however to replace a handor and I it could happen as well.
Perhaps not too often that employees will travel to places where bodily integrity is low on the priority
list for local criminals
corrosion can make you give away your password or hand over your smart card.
It's harder however to persuade someone to part with their finger or eyes doesn't make sense to implement
authentication methods that only provide further threat to users.
Let's return to passwords for a moment.
The problem with passwords is that with time computers are running faster and faster a password that
was secure 10 years ago.
Eight characters including alphabetic numeric and special characters has decreased on the security scale
to catch up with increased computer performances user passwords would have to be ever longer.
We'll show this in a minute.
Longer passwords mean more trouble with remembering them.
A 64 character random password is practically impossible to remember and even if you do memorize it
you're sure to make typos entering it.
That's why implementing additional authentication is crucial
since we've mentioned that biometrics is not an ideal solution.
We're left with smart cards the advantage of smart cards is that they can store large amounts of data
which means that passwords and keys can be long and we don't have to remember them as well.
This is the main strength of the smartcards announcing that your company will implement two factor authentication
could also bring some unexpected benefits.
This was the case with Microsoft Corp. some time ago 20 to 30 percent of traffic parameter routers and
Microsoft networks was made up from attempts to crack staff passwords.
Usually the attempts failed.
But even ignoring the potential threat to security cracking attacks were an infrastructure issue.
The network slowed down as a result.
Microsoft announced that they'll also use smart cards in addition to passwords to log on to a computer.
This makes tracking a password impossible without physical access to the card.
This is the second authentication factor.
One is something the user knows or cards pin.
Second something the user has that is saved in the card most attackers except for the ever optimistic
types stopped.
Brute forcing Microsoft passwords the network sped up without any infrastructure development.
The solution is easy and effective.