Web site authentication

[0001] The field of the invention is authentication and in particular the authentication of a service provided to users over a network.

[0002] A user who wants to avail himself of the services provided by a secure web site (such as a site that supports online banking) must typically authenticate himself to the site. This is often accomplished by having the user submit a public username along with a secret password shared only between the user and the bank. If the bank successfully verifies that the password is correct for the corresponding username, the user is permitted to avail himself of the services, such as checking account balances, making payments to third parties, etc.

[0003] More sophisticated user authentication schemes can require the user to provide a token capable of generating a One Time Password (OTP) that changes on the basis of time or an event, such a pressing a button on the token. A password based upon the OTP can be sent to the site along with a secret password (such as Personal Identification Number (PIN)) and a username. The site verifies the OTP password, the username and any other secret password before permitting the user to access the site services.

[0004] Another problem is authenticating the site to the user. Over the past few years, fraudsters have become increasingly adept at serving pages that masquerade as web site pages of third parties. Typically, links to these fraudulent pages are distributed via e-mails that allege some problem with a user's account and solicit from the user sensitive information, such as usernames and passwords to “logon” on fix the problem. For example, a user can receive an e-mail that purports to be from his bank announcing that his statement is ready to be viewed online by clicking a link in the e-mail. When the user clicks the link, he is directed to a web page that looks like the bank's site but is actually deployed by a fraudster. The user may enter his username and password, which is then received by the fraudster. The fraudster can sell this information or use it himself to logon to the actual bank site, logon as the user and obtain information about or money from the user's bank account. This process, known as phishing, is becoming increasingly widespread and is known to occur for auction sites, brokerage house sites, enterprise extranets and other types of sites provided over networks. Information sought from users by this technique includes usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, bank account numbers and the like.

[0005] What is needed is a reliable and robust technology for providing assurance to the user that the site he is viewing is the true and authentic site of the service he is seeking to use.

[0014] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a user can register an alphanumeric string that can be chosen by the user and an image. Either or both of the string and the image can be created or submitted by the user or selected by the user from a predetermined set of strings and images presented to the user. The user can also register an audio piece that can be created or submitted by the user or else selected by the user from a predetermined set of audio pieces. These selections or submissions should be made in a secure manner, e.g., over an SSL or TLS connection. These specified items from the user can be stored as attributes of a user profile, e.g., a user account database or directory. The profile can be maintained by the owner of the site to be authenticated or a trusted third party that provides site authentication services.

[0015] The items specified by the user can be used alone, in combination with each other or in combination with other items determined by the site or a third party to produce an “authentication device,” i.e., a perceptible entity rendered to the user to authenticate the site to the user. The authentication device essentially contains a secret that can be shared between the user and the web site that enables the web site to prove as identity to the user. Since the shared secret or secrets are known only to the legitimate site and the user, when the user perceives such a secret when he is served a page from the site, he can infer that the site is legitimate.

[0016] In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, items selected by the user can be combined to enhance the security of the authentication. For example, the user may select a text string and a distortion template that can be combined to produce a substantially unique authentication graphic to be shared as a secret between the user and the authentic site. For example, a device can be created that contains the user chosen image(s) as background. On top of the background various text elements can be dynamically overlaid to convey additional information. The additional text elements can be user generated and chosen text strings or system generated information. For example, the device can be an image that can contain, for example,

[0017] A user-chosen text string

[0018] A timestamp (to indicate the freshness of the image)

[0019] A web site name (to confirm the identity of site that the user is visiting)

[0020] An example of such an image can be produced using CAPTCHA technology. CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. It has been used to prevent servers from being overwhelmed by machine-generated queries from bots and other automata. It presents an automatically generated distorted text string and asks the entity submitting the query to correctly enter the text using a keyboard into a form entry on the page as a condition of processing the query. Automata cannot decipher the text because it is distorted, while a real person can. In this way, machine-generated queries are not processed, while human-generated queries can be.

[0021] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, CAPTCHA technology can be used in a new way to help authenticate a site to the user, rather than to filter certain types of users (i.e., automata) from utilizing the site. FIG. 1 shows a CAPTCHA image produced by a user who submitted the text “NSF” and selected a distortion template from a set of distortion templates to produce the distorted “NSF” image 100. FIG. 2 shows another example, where the user selected the string “PLUS” from a set of predetermined strings and selected a distortion template from a set of such templates to produce the CAPTCHA image 200. When the user visits the legitimate web site, the site can show the user the user-registered CAPTCHA-based image. The user can recognize the image and be assured that the site is legitimate. Permitting the user to combine items such as strings and templates enhances the security of the system by producing a more customized, unique and distinctive image for the user that can be easier for the user to remember.

[0022] CAPTCHA technology can be applied by having an item selected by a user distorted by a randomly-selected CAPTCHA distortion template that can change each time the user visits the site. This can vary the form of the item so as to help defeat automated attacks on the authentication system. In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, an audio portion can be added to the authentication device, as can video, animation, graphics, photographs, etc. The user can specify which, if any, pieces of content can make up the authentication, as well as the order in time in which they manifest. For example, a user can designate a photograph of his dog and, after a specified time delay (e.g., three seconds after the image appears), an audio clip of the dog barking can be played. Similarly, a video clip can be played along with synchronized audio. A series of perceptible events can be rendered in an order prescribed by the user. This can be designated by the user through a convenient interface that, transparently to the user, composes a script describing the rendering of the device over time, i.e., what is to be rendered, when and how. This script can be sent to and played at the user computer upon a successful authentication result, or the components can be sent from an authentication server in the proper order and correct timing.

[0023] Items selected by the user can be combined in other ways to increase the security of the system. For example, a set of graphics chosen by the user can be shown together when the user visits the site. This aggregate image can be more unique and thus more difficult to defeat for an attacker. However, aggregate images are more complex and can be more difficult for a user to accurately remember.

[0024] It is important that the user accurately remember the items he registers for site authentication in order for the authentication to operate correctly. For example, the user may select an image of a cat, a zebra and a giraffe for authenticating the web site of one of his credit card providers. If he visits the site infrequently, he may remember that he selected pictures of animals, but forget which ones. Further, if the user selects similar images at other web sites operated by issuers of his other credit cards, he may become confused as to which images correspond to which web site. In this way, the site authentication scheme can lose its effectiveness.

[0025] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the user can register a single authentication device that can be provided across any number of web sites, even when such sites are owned and operated by different entities. This can reduce or eliminate the need for a user to remember several different authentication devices for verifying the authenticity of numerous sites utilized by the user. This can improve the reliability with which a user recognizes an authentication and is able to distinguish the correct such device from incorrect ones. It can also reduce the administrative burden placed on each site by the need to authenticate itself to its users by offloading this function to a trusted third party site authentication service.

[0026] A system in accordance with such an embodiment is shown in FIG. 3. A set of web servers 301 is coupled to a set of user client computers 302 and site authentication server 304 through network 303. Authentication server includes a processor 305 coupled to a memory 306 that stores instructions 307 adapted to be executed by the processor 305 to perform at least part of the method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Processor 305 can be a general purpose microprocessor, such as a Pentium processor manufactured by the Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. It can also he an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) that embodies at least part of the instructions for performing the method in accordance with the present invention in hardware and/or firmware. Memory 306 can be any device capable of storing digital information, such as RAM, flash memory, a hard disk, a CD, etc. Processor 305 can be coupled to database 308 that can store user registration, profile, authentication device and other pertinent information.

[0027] A web site 301 can have an embedded image URL that points to a third party site authentication service operating on authentication server 303. The authentication server 303 can serve authentication device selection and registration pages to the user 302. The user 302 can interact with the authentication server 303 to create a personalized authentication device for use in authenticating web sites 301. This can be done over a secure channel, such as an SSL or TLS connection and the authentication server 303 can lake additional steps to authenticate the user 302.

[0028] When the user 302 visits a web site 301, the web site can include a link (such as an image link) pointing to the authentication server 303. The authentication server can authenticate the web site and, if the authentication is successful, serve the personalized authentication device registered to the user 302. Alternatively, when the user 302 visits the web site 301, the web site 301 can send a request to the authentication server 303 for the user's personalized authentication device. If the authentication server 303 successfully authenticates the requesting web server 301, then the authentication server 303 can send the user's registered personalized authentication device to the web server 301. The web server 301 can then show the device to the user 302.

[0029] In an embodiment of the present invention, a web site 301 can include on its page a URL to the authentication server 303, where the URL contains a cryptographic token. The token can include, without limitation:

• • [0030] A nonce and/or timestamp
  • [0031] An identifier of the web site 301=member_site_id
  • [0032] A hash of the user's username, H(username)=uid_m
  • [0033] A digital signature based upon, for example, a SSL certificate
    An example of such a URL is as follows:

[0034] http://vipseal.verisign.com/ShowImage?token=MIIEFDCCA32gAwIBAgIQOCcFB3u15kGCYOiLy0rH/jANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQQFADCB2327gZZEyWUWVDr0uk1VJoR+5LwyNAp8FPGqdG0akUvOUIT2UGs1Eg==

[0035] Upon receiving the request generated when the user selects such a link, the authentication server 303 can verify the cryptographic token by validating the signature and the timestamp. hn one embodiment, the token signature is made using a private key of the web site. Any suitable public/private key scheme can be used, such as RSA, ECC, etc. The verification can also ensure that the timestamp, if present is fresh and the nonce, if present has not been used before.

[0036] Once the token is successfully verified, the authentication server 303 can fetch and analyze an artifact that helps to identify the user, which can be, for example, a cookie stored at the user computer 302. Based upon the information stored in this artifact, the authentication server 303 can look up the user preferences (e.g., stored in database 308) and generate an authentication device to authenticate the site to the user. The device can include, without limitation,

• • [0037] A user-chosen text string
  • [0038] A user-chosen background image (e.g., distortion template, graphic, video, audio, etc.)
  • [0039] The web site name (which can be based upon the token)
  • [0040] A digital signature hidden in an image, audio, video or other portion
  • [0041] Executable or interpretable code, such as a script that describes how and when portions of the device are to be rendered
  • [0042] A timestamp

[0043] When the user sees the authentication device so configured, he can be assured that he is visiting a valid website and not a phishing site. A digital signature can be hidden in an element of the authentication using steganographic techniques, such as those known in the art. For example, a digital signature can be hidden in a background graphic, in a video segment, in an audio segment, etc. In some embodiments, the signature can be hidden across more than one component, e.g., a first part of the signature can be hidden in a graphic component, a second part of the signature can be hidden in an audio segment, a third part of the signature can be hidden in a video segment, etc. The digital signature can be created at the authentication server using a private key of the authentication server. The signature can be verified at the user computer to provide assurance to the user that the authentication server is the true source of the device.

[0044] In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the authentication server can register users and maintain a database of user preferences. The primary key for a user preferences record can be a user identifier (uid.) The authentication can also maintain a record of sites that have received requests from a particular user. The authentication server can set an artifact for a device, which can be a cookie on the user computer. The artifact can contain enough information to identify the user, e.g., it can contain uid.

[0045] If a user has managed to remove an artifact, the authentication server can recover by, for example, employing out-of-band authentication. Such out-of-bound authentication can use challenge-response, a telephone call for verification, SMS, etc.

[0046] The authentication server also serves up the personalized authentication devices. Such devices can be personalized to the user and to the site that the user is visiting. They can be comprised of images, text, audio, video, animation or any other perceptible medium, either alone or in combination.

[0047] Another function of the authentication sewer can be establishing the pre-shared keys with the web sites that subscribe to the site authentication service (relying party sites.) SSL certificates can be used for this purpose, especially if the authentication service is provided by a certificate issuer. This could avoid the need to implement additional key management functionality for this purpose. The pre-shared keys can be used to sign the tokens. Of course, symmetric keys can also he used for this function.

[0048] The authentication server can make available appropriate reports and statistics to the available to the relying parties.

[0049] The web site can use a SDK provided by the authentication service to register and maintain the pre-shared key, which the site can use to sign the token. The SDK can also be used by the site to create the tokens and embed the URL containing the token in appropriate site web pages. The site can also alter the workflow during login to incorporate the display of the authentication device from the authentication server and monitor appropriate reports and statistics from the authentication service.

[0050] One transaction flow in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 4. A user can register with an authentication server by setting his preferences designating an authentication device. The authentication server can set a cookie on the user computer and display the chosen device for the user to remember. When the user wants to login to a web site that subscribes to the authentication service, the site can return a login page that can include a link (such as a URL) for displaying the authentication device to the user. This link can point to the authentication server and can contain the token. While rendering the page, the user's browser can initiate a request based upon the URL to the authentication server and artifacts (such as cookies or other information that can be stored at the user's computer) can be sent to the authentication server. The server can use the artifacts (e.g., cookies) to identify the user and determine user preferences. The server can verify the token, e.g., by checking the signature. If the token is successfully verified by the authentication server, the server can create the authentication device for the user and send it to the user computer, where it can be incorporated into the web page retrieved by the user from the web site.

[0051] Registration transaction flows are shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. The registration site can be hosted either at the authentication server or at a web site that has subscribed to the authentication service. The user can be redirected to such a registration site from a web site. The redirect can include a member_site_id, which can be an identifier that uniquely identifies this particular member site to the authentication service. It can also include uid_m, which can be a hash of a user identifier, H(userid_member). This can be an opaque identifier that can be derived from some unique user identifier at the member web site, e.g., from the username or an internal user handle.

[0052] If a particular user has never registered for a personal site seal at any of the participating member sites, then the user can be prompted to configure various settings, such as:

[0053] by selecting one or more personalized image(s) from a library of images.

[0054] by selecting a personalized text string.

[0055] by selecting an audio preference. [actually this could be the text string itself?]

[0056] by designating a mechanism for recovery, e.g., by providing answers to a set of challenge questions, or by providing a phone number for telephone or SMS-based out-of-band authentication.

[0057] For security purposes, the library of images should be sufficiently large. Alternatively, the user can be permitted to upload images, videos, sound clips, etc. To ensure a good distribution of image selection if the user is asked to select from a set of images, the registration server should use an algorithm that ensures a good distribution (e.g. random selection) to select ‘m’ images from the library, and then display them to the user to choose from.

[0058] Once the preferences are selected by the user, a unique identifier can be created for the user, uid_vtn. The preferences can be saved against the uid_vtn. The service can also maintain a list of all the member sites at which the user is ‘registered’, e.g., by maintaining a mapping of uid_m's for that particular uid_vtn. Hence, all or part of the following information can be saved into the database:

[0059] uid_vtn

• • [0060] image preference(s)
  • [0061] video preference(s)
  • [0062] text string preference(s)
  • [0063] audio preference(s)
  • [0064] device scripts(s)
  • [0065] <uid_m_—1, member_site_id_—1>, <uid_m_—2, member_site_id_—2>, . . .
    A device script can be a script describing the mixing of the elements in an authentication device. A pseudo-code example of such as script is:
    start
    render(image_—32)
    wait(3 seconds)
    play(sound_—3456)
    effect(pulse image)
    run(video_—427)
    display(text_string_—75489(distortion pattern_—56782))
    end
    Designations such as image_—32, sound_—3456 are meant to be identifiers of particular pieces of content, e.g., an image and a sound, respectively. Such pieces of content can be predetermined pieces selected and arranged by a user, uploaded by a user and stored, or a combination thereof.

[0066] An artifact (such as a cookie) can be saved on the user's computer. This artifact can include an obfuscated/encrypted uid_vtn that can uniquely identify the user and hence the user's preferences.

[0067] The registration service/server can then redirect the user back to the member web site. The member web site can include a URL for displaying the personalized authentication device.

[0068] A transaction flow for displaying the authentication device is shown in FIG. 7. The web site can include on its page a URL, an example of which is shown below.

[0069] http://vipseal.verisign.com/Showhnage?token=MIIEFDCCA32gAwIBAgIQOCcFB3u15kGCY0iLy0rH/jANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQQFADCB2327gZZEyWUWVDr0uk1VJoR+5LwyNAp8FPGqdG0akUvOU1T2UGs1Eg==

[0070] This URI, can contain a cryptographic token. The token can include

• • [0071] A nonce and/or a timestamp
  • [0072] An identifier for a member website=member_site_id
  • [0073] A hash of a user identifier, H(username)=uid_m
  • [0074] A digital signature, e.g., using a SSL certificate that can be issued to the web site by the operator of the authentication service

[0075] Upon receiving request based upon the URL, the authentication server can verify (“authenticate”) the cryptographic token by validating the signature and the timestamp. It can also ensure that the nonce has not been used before. If the authentication server cannot successfully authenticate the token, then the user's authentication device is not sent to the user computer. Rather, a warning can be scat indicating that the authentication was not successful, that the site maybe fraudulent, etc. In one embodiment, the user can select a second authentication device (e.g., a skull and crossbones) that indicates an unsuccessful authentication result from the authentication server.

[0076] If the token is successfully verified, the service can fetch and analyze the artifact that helps to identify the user. This artifact can contain the uid_vtn. If for some reason the artifact cannot be found then, in one possible scenario, the user is not registered. In this case, the web site can prompt the user to register for a personalized authentication device, as described above. In another scenario, the user could he registered, but is using a new machine or has deleted the artifact. In this case, the user should be taken through a recovery process, such as that described below. An embodiment of the verification process is shown in FIG. 7. An embodiment of the process that can set a cookie or other artifact on the user computer is shown in FIG. 8.

[0077] Based upon the artifact obtained from the user computer, the service can look up the user's preferences and generate a personalized authentication device that can show the following information to the user:

• • [0078] User chosen text string(s)
  • [0079] User chosen audio clip(s)
  • [0080] User chosen video(s)
  • [0081] User chosen animation(s)
  • [0082] User chosen graphic(s)
  • [0083] User chosen background image(s)
  • [0084] User Designated Script
  • [0085] A web site name (e.g., from the token)
  • [0086] A timestamp

[0087] These can be mixed by the user, which can he recorded in a script can be as described above. When the user sees the personalized authentication device, he can be assured that he is visiting a valid website and not a phishing site.

[0088] A recovery transaction flow is shown in FIG. 8. A recovery process can be triggered if the user is accessing a member site from another computer or if the user deletes the artifact. If the user does not see the authentication device at a member web site at which he has already registered, then the user identity should be verified before the recovery process is implemented. One way to do this is to have the member web site verify the user identity and then redirect the user to the authentication server with a security token that indicates that user identity has been confirmed. The redirect can include the uid_m for the user. Since the server maintains a mapping of uid_m's and uid_vtn, the server can determine the uid_vtn from this information. Alternatively, the member site can redirect the user to the authentication server (or a suitable recovery server.)

[0089] The service can then verify the user's identity using the information that the user provided during registration. This can help to identify the uid_vtn.

[0090] Once the service has determined the correct uid_vtn, the authentication server can save an artifact on the user's computer, such as a cookie. This artifact can contain an obfuscated/encrypted uid_vtn that can uniquely identify the user and hence preferences.

[0091] After the artifact has been stored, the recovery service/server can redirect the user back to the member web site. The member web site at that time can include a URL for displaying the personalized authentication device for the user. Now, the user should he able to see the personalized seal as described above and be assured that the site is legitimate.

[0092] An embodiment of the present invention can establish a secret symmetric key that is shared between the web site and the authentication service. The symmetric key (e.g., one used in an algorithm such as DES, AES, etc.) can be used by the web site to sign the token that is included in the URL sent to the user computer when the user's browser is loading the web site's page. The URL, which can point to the authentication server, can cause the token to be sent from the user computer to the authentication server, which can use its own copy of the symmetric key to authenticate the digital signature. If the signature is successfully authenticated, then the authentication server can send the authentication device to the user computer.

[0093] The embodiments of the present invention described above are meant to illustrate and not to limit the scope of the claimed invention. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the above description teaches other embodiments that, although not detailed above, are still encompassed by the claims.