Authentication
Authentication is the action of anecdotic and acceptance a user.This process
typically relies on one or added of the afterward accepted methods:
Article the user knows This admission is affidavit by
knowledge, area the character is absolute by article accepted alone by
the user.This is the best accepted and the weakest admission acclimated for
authentication today. Examples accommodate both the UNIX and Windows
NT/2000 login process, in which the user is about prompted to enter
a password.The candor of this affidavit action depends on the
“something” actuality both a abstruse and additionally adamantine to guess—a bifold ambition that
is not calmly ensured. Some organizations accept continued the UNIX and
Windows NT/2000 login action to crave tokens or acute cards
(something you have), or biometrics (something you are), added authentication
methods discussed in the credibility that follow.
Article the user possesses This admission is affidavit by
possession, area the character is absolute by article bedevilled alone by
the user.This affidavit admission is acceptable added accepted and is
used in best people’s circadian lives in the anatomy of keys and aegis badges.
The candor of this affidavit action depends on the “something”
being different and bedevilled alone by the user, such as a acute card. If this
object is absent or stolen, the affidavit action is compromised.
www.syngress.com
222 Chapter 5 • Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting
Article the user is This admission is affidavit by user characteristic,
where the character is absolute by article that is different about
the user.This is accepted as the acreage of biometrics. Many articles are
currently actuality developed and produced that use techniques such as fingerprint
scans, retina scans, and articulation analysis.ATMs are alpha to be
deployed with biometric authentication.This is the arch admission to
authentication and avoids the accepted problems with the other
approaches (such as a countersign actuality estimated or a agenda actuality absent or
stolen). However, this admission is additionally the best difficult to implement.
Two-factor affidavit uses a aggregate of two of the preceding
approaches to accredit user identities.Typically, two-factor affidavit is a
combination of article the user possesses and article the user knows.A
common archetype is the use of an ATM agenda (something possessed) and an associated
PIN (something known) to admission an annual via an ATM machine. In the
computer world, you can acquisition two-factor affidavit in the anatomy of tokens,
where a aggregate of a PIN additional a alteration amount on the badge is acclimated for
authentication.
Within the AAA framework, affidavit occurs back an AAA client
passes adapted user accreditation to the AAA server and requests that the server
authenticate the user.The AAA server attempts to validate the credentials, and
responds with either an “accept” or a “deny” message. AAA affidavit is typically
used in the afterward scenarios:
To ascendancy admission to a arrangement accessory such as a router, NAS, or firewall
To ascendancy admission to arrangement assets through a arrangement accessory such as
a router, NAS, or firewall