Erik van Straten<p>EvS infosec Myth#0: Authentication</p><p>MYTH:</p><p>1) Authentication: prove that you are you.</p><p>Factors: 1 or more (MFA, 2=2FA) of:<br>2.a) Something you know;<br>2.b) Something you have;<br>2.c) Something you are.</p><p>MAY BE MISUNDERSTOOD AS:</p><p>1) supplying full name + birth date.</p><p>2.a) 1 + 1 = 10 (in binary notation);<br>2.b) Kitchen;<br>2.c) Nerd.</p><p>TYPICAL WEAK USE CASE:</p><p>1) Supplying your SSN to verify your identity: this is IDENTIFICATION, not authentication aka VERIFICATION of identity: typical serving side stupidity, extremely misunderstood, causing lots of misery (identity fraud).</p><p>———— OR ————<br>2.a) Password: 12345<br>2.b) Phone number + OTP via SMS.</p><p>———— OR ————<br>2.a) Password: qwerty<br>2.b) TOTP-app with secrets not being backed up, or using insecure / privacy unfriendly cloud backups [5].</p><p>AUTHENTICATION SHOULD HAVE BEEN COMMUNICATED AS, FROM THE START:</p><p>1) Authentication: PREVENT IMPERSONATION [1], [2], [3], [4].</p><p>2) "MFA HAD FAILED" [5] (Microsoft, already in 2019). Reason: an ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENT of EACH FACTOR is that it cannot be easily obtained by an attacker (e.g. intercepted, copied, guessed, stolen etc.).</p><p>2.a) A strong (not predictable, not guessable, not brute forceable and not deducible via OSINT) secret that only YOU and MAX. 1 OTHER PARTY know, transported only via reliable, CLEARLY IDENTIFIED server-authenticated, E2EE connections. With more than a few accounts, normal humans will be unable to remember strong passwords (preferable solution in [5]);</p><p>2.b) Physical device with an "HSM" in your possession with strong anti-attacker-access measures in place;</p><p>2.c) "Neural hash" of biometrics (usually weak because your biometrics are not a secret), stored in (and never leaving) a strongly protected "HSM" (see 2.b), transported from the scanner to the "HSM" in a secure manner.</p><p>Plus, less often mentioned:</p><p>2.d) "Passport" / digital certificate issued by TTP: typically strong if the provisioning infrastructure (such as PKI) is highly trustworthy. Theft of passports and unwanted copying of private keys must me made as hard as possible. A scan or photocopy of a passport MUST be considered worthless w.r.t. authentication (as knowledge of PII such as an SSN);</p><p>2.e) Location: weak (easily spoofable).</p><p>CONCLUSION<br>A safer internet mandates that we stop oversimplifying complicated matters.</p><p>EXAMPLES / MORE INFO:</p><p>[1] <a href="https://english.defensie.nl/topics/travel-documents/identity-fraud-and-safe-airports" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">english.defensie.nl/topics/tra</span><span class="invisible">vel-documents/identity-fraud-and-safe-airports</span></a><br>Note: this page contains a lie, at least in NL: "Making a photocopy of your identity document is prohibited by law". The Dutch government even provides a free app that may obfuscate "sensitive" parts of ID documents in order to create "secure" copies (idiots):<br><a href="https://www.government.nl/topics/identity-fraud/question-and-answer/how-do-i-make-a-secure-copy-of-my-id-with-the-kopieid-app" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">government.nl/topics/identity-</span><span class="invisible">fraud/question-and-answer/how-do-i-make-a-secure-copy-of-my-id-with-the-kopieid-app</span></a></p><p>[2] In Dutch: <a href="https://www.security.nl/posting/792391/Authenticatie+en+impersonatie" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">security.nl/posting/792391/Aut</span><span class="invisible">henticatie+en+impersonatie</span></a></p><p>[3] <a href="https://infosec.exchange/@ErikvanStraten/111943593509649252" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">infosec.exchange/@ErikvanStrat</span><span class="invisible">en/111943593509649252</span></a></p><p>[4] *NOT* Trump: <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/890617797956456448" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/st</span><span class="invisible">atus/890617797956456448</span></a></p><p>[5] <a href="https://infosec.exchange/@ErikvanStraten/111989393380873096" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">infosec.exchange/@ErikvanStrat</span><span class="invisible">en/111989393380873096</span></a></p><p><a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/authentication" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>authentication</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/impersonation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>impersonation</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/identity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>identity</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/identityFraud" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>identityFraud</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/2FA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>2FA</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/MFA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>MFA</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/factors" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>factors</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/OTP" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>OTP</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/SMS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SMS</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/TOTP" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>TOTP</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Authenticator" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Authenticator</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/passwords" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>passwords</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/passwordManager" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>passwordManager</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/passwordManagers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>passwordManagers</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Microsoft" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Microsoft</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/SSN" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SSN</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/BSN" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>BSN</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/passport" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>passport</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/eID" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>eID</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/ElectronicPassport" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ElectronicPassport</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/rickroll" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>rickroll</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/KopieID" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>KopieID</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/PKI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>PKI</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/certificates" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>certificates</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/privateKey" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>privateKey</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/publickeycryptography" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>publickeycryptography</span></a></p>