IAuth: An authentication system for Internet applications

Abstract

With the advent of the Internet, an era of distributed computing is rapidly taking hold. The potential offered by distributed computing increases opportunities for security breaches. This emphasizes the importance of security practices, such as authentication. We have designed a system, IAuth, which provides secure distribution of cryptographic keys while establishing authenticity between a user and a Web-based application. The strength of IAuth in the context of the Internet is that there is no need for a user to possess a cryptographic key if the application requires data encryption or digital signing. Once verified authentic, the user can securely obtain his cryptographic key from the Web application server for data encryption or digital signing.