Authentication and New Media

= Authentication =

"Authentication" refers to a process which verifies the identity of a person or software in order to help protecting the privacy of a unique individuality and securing a sensitive information.

Problem
While authentication technology is continuously improving, hacking prowess is also increasing as well. Countless people have gotten their online accounts hacked various times. The cause can be that users create a weak password, use the same password, or it can be something relates to the form that password is stored on the website

Earlier this year, there were two main problems regarding authentication. The first one was the Adobe hacking news. It was a shock to many people and was also an alert to many companies when Adobe announced that over 3 million of the user's information was leaked to public. Due to this incident, many firms were able to find out that a lot of Adobe's customers also used the same password for their websites as well and encouraged all the internet users to use different passwords for different sites.

The second news is the lack of security of Google Chrome. A software developer, Elliot Kember, blogged about how Chrome stored the user's password as a plaintext which was the easiest form to get hacked. Kamber explained to people how it easily can be done by just getting on someone's computer and go to Chrome then to password setting. Every passwords that are stored on Chrome will appear on the screen as plaintext.

New Technology
As the hacking problem is increasing, many companies has been developing some advanced technology to use in authentication process to help minimize the risk of losing an important information to hackers and identity theft.

Yubikey


Yubikey was created in 2007 by a newly found technology company called “Yubico”. Yubikey is a mini chip that looks similar to USB, but smaller. It is also known as a two-factor authentication which means that it has something that a user knows and something that a user has. In order for someone to steal a user’s information, that person needs to have the Yubikey chip and he needs to know the user ID as well. The thing that makes Yubikey stands out from others is the master password function. The master password or One-Time Password (OTP) function is a 44-character and single-time use password with 128-bit encrypted public ID. It combines a user ID along with unique code and counter. Yubikey is a friendly and easy use device. A user can plug the chip into the USB spot and the device is ready to be used.

Bracelet
Bionym Inc. developed a new authentication technology called Nymi. Nymi is a plastic bracelet that uses a person’s heartbeat to replace a password. The bracelet encodes a user’s electrocardiogram (EKG) and uses that as a passcode for the bracelet to start accurately functioning. When a person wears Nymi, it will sync his/her heart beats to the device then measure whether a person who wears the bracelet is the original owner of it. If the electrocardiogram matches with the data in the bracelet, then the user can start using it. The bracelet was created not only for a password related purposes, but mainly for all authentication purposes. It can be used to replace a car key, unlock the house, and control the bank account. Nymi can be easily active by touching the silver button on the bracelet for a while until it vibrates. Once the bracelet vibrates, that means the verification is confirmed and the device can now be used or is currently in use. Yet, Nymi is in the market. However, people can pre-order Nymi on Bionym website and the bracelet should be shifted sometime in 2014.

Tattoo
Motorola is currently working on a new project of having an electronic tattoo on people’s skin as an authenticable tool. Motorola vice president, Regina Dugan, announced to the world that her and her technology team are developing an effective and realistic tattoo to use for identification purposes as an alternative way of traditional way of authentication. This tattoo will have temperature sensors, ECG sensors, EEG/EMG sensors, photo detectors, wireless antenna, and wireless communication oscillator. With this electric tattoo, the users don’t have to worry that they might forget their passwords or lose the authentication device anymore. Although, the tattoo is hard to remove, it is not permanent. This idea is still in developing process.

Pill
Regina Dugan is continuously looking for a better way of verifying identity by creating an authentication pill. She said that the pill is similar to vitamin supplement. People can it daily to replace other types of authentication. When a person swallows a pill into the body, the pill will create an 18-bit ECG signal inside the body that can pick up the connection from outside the body. By taking this pill, a person can be considered as an authentication token. The entire body can send and receive a signal from a phone, a tablet, etc. Again, this idea is also in the beginning process and it is not a legal way of authentication in the United States yet.