Abstract:

Authentication mechanisms provide the cornerstone for security for many distributed systems, especially for increasingly popular online applications. For decades, widely used, traditional authentication methods included passwords and PINs that are now inadequate to protect online users and organizations from ever more sophisticated attacks. This paper proposes an improvement to the currently implemented authentication mechanisms. The solution introduced here includes a one-time-password (OTP) and incorporates the concept of multiple levels and multiple channels – features that are much more successful than traditional authentication mechanisms in protecting users' online accounts from being compromised. This paper study reports on review and evaluations of the current authentication classes and mechanisms and proposes an authentication mechanism that uses a variety of techniques, including multiple channels, to resist attacks more effectively than most commonly used mechanisms. The paper presents guidelines on how to implement the proposed mechanism, provides a detailed analysis of its effectiveness in protecting users' online accounts against specific, commonly deployed attacks, and proves its usability and acceptability to users. It represents a significant step forward in the evolution of authentication mechanisms meeting the security needs of online users.