FR2824208A1 - METHOD AND DEVICE FOR ASSIGNING AN AUTHENTICATION CODE - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention concerns a method for assigning an authentication code to a user (1) by an authenticating authority (7), whereby said authority (7) communicates to said user (1) a plurality of elements (PWi) capable of forming said authentication code (MP). Each element (PWi) is identified by a corresponding identification code (ICi). The user (1) selects the element(s) (PWj) forming said authentication code (MP). The user (1) communicates to said authority (7) said identification code(s) (ICj) corresponding to said selected element(s) (PWj).

Description

PROCEDURE AND DEVICE FOR ASSIGNING A CODE

AUTHENTICATION

  The present invention relates to the allocation to a user s of an authentication code used to verify the identity of the latter when accessing a secure system such as a computer, a communication network, communication terminals. payment, etc. This invention relates in particular to the security of commercial transactions paid by means of bank cards and in particular electronic transactions carried out on the Internet. Many secure systems, such as, for example, banking systems, require a user authentication step to operate them. This step generally consists in providing a password known only to the user

  and the authentication authority.

  Thus, the security of transactions carried out by means of payment cards today relies on such an element, namely the control of the authenticity of the card holder through the electronic signature constituted by entering a password. also called PIN code (PIN being the acronym for Personal Identification Number) formed of an ordered sequence of four 2s digits. The classic allocation of a password necessary to access a secure system is at the discretion of an issuing authority cooperating with said secure system. This authority generates a password for each user and imposes it on the latter. In practice in the case of payment cards, the password thus generated is generally transmitted to its recipient by and / or through a data communication network of the postal service type. The payment medium and its associated password are transmitted separately and non-synchronously in order to

  improve transmission security.

  Such a method for issuing authentication codes is today unsuitable for the development of secure systems requiring the use of an authentication code, in particular on the Internet, and the need to have access to

  is quickly an authentication code to be able to use them.

  Thus, to secure the use of means of payment such as credit cards for settling transactions on the Internet, it is envisaged to provide users with valid passwords for a transaction. Such a service only makes sense if it is possible to provide a password almost instantly to said user. It is obviously possible to substitute the sending by the password of the password to the user by its communication through telecommunication networks such as the telephone or the Internet. Such communication of the password, however, carries the risk that a third party may intercept such communication and then fraudulently use such information. The parade of securing the communication by using encryption algorithms of the secret key or public key type has the disadvantage of making the equipment more complex.

  required to obtain passwords this way.

  The present invention proposes to overcome these drawbacks by proposing a method according to which it is possible to quickly assign an authentication code to a user without the latter requiring the use of complex technical means or the use of algorithm. encryption / decryption and moreover without direct communication of said authentication code between the authority

  authentication and user.

  It relates to a method for assigning an authentication code to a user by an authentication authority. According to a general definition of the invention, the authentication authority communicates to said user a plurality of elements capable of forming said authentication code, o each element being identified by a corresponding identification code, said user chooses the or the elements forming said authentication code and said user communicates to said authority (s) said identification code (s) corresponding to said said (s)

selected item (s).

  In practice, the plurality of elements capable of forming the authentication code consists of elements belonging to the group formed by concept representations, alphanumeric representations, pictograms, images, combinations of graphic representations and

alphanumeric and the like.

  Preferably, the identification codes belong to the group formed by alphanumeric representations and the like. According to another aspect of the invention, the authentication authority communicates to the user the elements o capable of forming the authentication code during a communication session through a communication network

  internet, telephone, or the like.

  To confer an additional degree of security, each i5 identification code is also coupled to a session number relating to the session during which the authentication authority communicates to the user the elements likely to form the code d authentication while the user also communicates to the authority the session number associated with said identification code. Advantageously, the session number varies periodically

at a chosen rate.

  2s For example, the change of the session number takes place each time an authentication code is allocated or inside

of a selected time window.

  The present invention also relates to a device

  for implementing the method according to the invention.

  Other features and advantages of the invention

  will appear in the light of the detailed description below, and

  of sins in the squels the single figure schematically represents the architecture of a device for accessing a transactional service

  secure implementing the method according to the invention.

  o In reference to the single figure, the architecture of the device according to the invention is preferably shown, but not limited to disjoint communication networks, in order to

  limit the risk of fraudulent interception.

  For example, one of the communication networks is that formed by the Internet network RI. This type of network is used here between a computer 2 made available to the user 1 and a password allocation server 4 managed by an authentication authority 7. Another communication network can be formed by RT telephone network, fxed or mobile type. This type of network is used here between a telephone set 5 made available to user 1 and a voice server 6, managed by said

authentication authority 7.

  The allocation server 4 can be different from the voice server 6, the allocation server 4 is then connected to the voice server 6 via a secure link 9 through a secure communication network RS. The functions of the allocation server 4 and of the voice server 6 can be carried out by a single device, the user then communicating with the single allocation / authorization server preferably through several communication networks and several intermediaries. Obviously, the invention can be applied to other

  data communication networks.

  o In the single figure, the user 1 is installed in front of a computer 2, for example of the personal computer type. The computer 2 is capable of connecting to the Internet network RI via a link 3 in order to access a merchant-type site for example. This site can

  be managed by a service or product provider or the like.

  Preferably, the user 1 has, to pay the transaction, a payment card 8 (real or virtual) obtained from a

accredited financial institution.

  Depending on the payment procedure selected, user 1 must provide identification information such as a password. To obtain this password, the user 1 connects to the authentication authority 7 through the allocation server 4 and

  of the voice server 6, according to the process detailed below.

  2s This process notably makes it possible to assign a password quickly, automatically, interactively and securely. The user will

  thus be assigned the password MP (PW1, PW2, PW3, PW4).

  When user 1 decides to buy for a given amount, a product or a service offered for sale on the aforementioned merchant site, he then triggers an order by appropriately designating the references and the price of the product he wishes to acquire

  s as well as the method of payment chosen, namely its card number 8.

  The merchant site then communicates through the secure link 9 of the RS communication network with the authentication authority 7 which also cooperates with the financial organization o in charge of the card 8 (the authority 7 and this fnancial organization can besides doing only one) in order to transmit data relating to the transaction, for example the characteristics of the order, so that the authorization station (authentication authority 7)

  controls the transaction, and more specifically the payment.

  The authentication authority 7 can send the user an electronic invoice bearing the references of the ordered product and the merchant site 4. In response, the user must give confidential data to validate the transaction, in particular an identifier o and the corresponding PM password of the user's payment card. According to the invention, the allocation of an authentication code

  such as a password to a user happens in two steps.

  s Firstly, the user chooses his own password and secondly, the user communicates this password in coded form to the authentication authority for registration. d The first step of the method, namely the choice made by the user of his password is carried out via a first communication network, this network being arbitrary and in particular, this network being able to be constituted by the Internet

  s as illustrated in the present exemplary embodiment of the invention.

  Indeed, the choice of password made by the user is not made ex nihilo but from information previously communicated by the authentication authority. This information consists mainly in the presentation of the elements, referenced PWi, likely to be chosen as password by the user as well as in identification codes, referenced ICi,

of these PWi elements.

  According to the embodiment of the invention illustrated, to choose his password, the user therefore connects via the Internet to an appropriate server managed by the authentication authority. By connecting to this authentication server, the user will be able to access one or more pages that will be displayed on the screen of his computer and on which the authentication authority has presented several PWi elements likely to '' be chosen by the user for

form your password.

  In accordance with the invention, the password is freely chosen by the user from information provided by the authentication authority. It should however be noted that the authentication authority can introduce certain rules capable of diversifying the choice of passwords, for example by requiring that a password

  pass is made up of a predetermined number of elements.

  The elements presented on the user's computer screen and which can be chosen to form a password can be any, that is to say numbers, numbers, letters, words, pictures, pictograms or

many more concepts.

  o A concept is the general abstract representation of an object or a set of an object which is defined according to its understanding (the alphabet is formed from the set of letters) and according to its

  extension (the alphabet consists of the letters a, b, c, d, ..., z).

  1S Each term used is preferably a word with a perfectly defined meaning, which admits no ambiguity (for example:

  animal, human being, bicycle, sun, moon, etc.).

  Easily identifiable representations are associated with each term, whether in the form of drawings, photos or pictograms or even in the form of sentences inside

of which the word is found.

  Assigning concepts like passwords has the immense advantage of being particularly well suited to human intelligence. It is indeed very easy for a user to remember a combination of concepts (for example "woman" and "cat") rather than an arbitrary combination of letter and numbers

  which is very difficult to memorize (for example "AZ23EF3E1").

  Conversely, finding from the representations (images, drawings, texts) chosen by the user his password and therefore the associated combination of concepts is an extremely difficult task for potential hackers for whom the existing computer tools are of limited help. Indeed, automatic pattern recognition is still in its infancy, as is the conceptual analysis of words in a sentence. In addition, the slightest photograph or image contains a high number of concepts. According to the invention, each element PWi represented on the screen of the user corresponds to an identification code ICi which is used to identify said element. This identification code ICi is s appropriately determined by the authentication authority so that it is not possible to deduce the element PWi

  corresponding to a code given HERE.

  In the case of a selection of a set of concepts, o the user 1 chooses concepts related to images appearing on his screen and coming for example from a database 10. In practice, user 1 navigates in a tree of images, o

  for each image, we associate a list of concepts it contains.

  s For example, in the case of a first plurality of conceptual elements represented by images, each graphic representation of each concept PWi is linked to a number ICi which identifies it. User 1 then becomes aware of all the PWi concepts presented to him and chosen from among them the

  concepts he retains as his secret or MP password.

  User 1 carefully notes the list of these concepts PWj

  forming his password and associated ICj identification codes.

  s Thus, the user having chosen the elements PW1, PW2, PW3 and PW4 to form his password, notes the corresponding codes IC1,

IC2, IC3 and IC4.

  The user then only has to register his password by calling the authentication authority preferably via a second communication network distinct from the first, such as for example the RT telephone network, identifying and communicating the password he chose by identifying the elements chosen PW 1, PW2, PW3 and PW4 by their codes

  S corresponding IC1, IC2, IC3 and IC4.

  Thus for a third party to be able to know the word of the user (formed in the present case of the combination PW1, PW2, PW3, and PW4), it must be capable of picking up communication from the user o to the authentication authority and that it knows what the codes IC1, IC2, IC3 and IC4 correspond to, that is to say that the user's connection session to the server is also accessed 'authorization. To increase the security of such a system, the identification code of the PWi elements is regularly modified by the authorization server so that between two successive connections or sessions, or alternatively within the same session, the same PWi element can receive separate codes

HERE, j and HERE, k.

  The user is therefore invited to specify when registering his password the NS references for the session, NS reference formed by a code, for example alphanumeric (for example of the NNNN type consisting of a four-digit number), session during which he noted the selected item (s) or

  forming elements are password.

  Thus, the user who has chosen elements PW1 to PW4 during the referenced session 2135 will have to communicate the following information to the authentication authority: 2135; IC1, IC2, IC3 and IC4. Thus, the identification codes ICi (here the list of concept numbers) are found to be diversified by the session numbers NSi

  associated respectively with each concept number.

  By convention, the pair formed by the identification codes ICj (for example IC 1 to IC4) and the associated session number NSj, constitutes an MPC encryption of the password MP, in which the session number NSj constitutes the key to diversification or

  encryption of MP password identification codes.

  2s As a variant, if the codes evolve during the same session, the user will therefore be invited to specify when registering his password, no longer the session reference, but the references of the screen pages, reference formed by a code, for example alphanumeric (for example of the type AAANNNN with A letter and N number), screen pages on which he noted the selected reference or references. Obviously to each modification of the codes corresponds a modification of the code of

s page reference.

  Thus, the user who has chosen the elements PW1 and PW2 on the screen page referenced XXX2135, then the element PW3 on the page AZE8213 and finally the element PW4 on the page YQQ2319 must o communicate the following information to the authority d 'authentication: IC 1, XXX2 135; IC2, XXX2 135; IC3, AZE82 13 and

IC4, YQQ23 1 9.

  The third party wishing to use the password chosen by i5 the user must therefore not only monitor the telephone line of the latter but also record all of the different screen pages read by the user or displayed by the authentication authority. This is a job that requires skills

  surveillance out of reach of traditional fraudsters.

  For the authentication authority, the codes can be assigned automatically using an encryption algorithm, which makes it possible to easily manage the decoding of passwords from information s communicated by the users. Thus, it is possible to provide a first software SF1 which generates the code ICi of the element PWi from the reference of the page AAANNNN on which this code ICi will be displayed next to this element, while a second software generates the references

  pages, for example from the current date and time.

  As a variant, the assignment of the codes ICi to the elements PWi can be carried out by means of appropriate tables or of indexed maps according to the references of the display pages. To communicate with the authentication authority, the user can therefore use a RT telephone type communication network. In this case, the user 1 uses a telephone or telephone set 5 of the fixed or mobile type, in order to enter into connection with a telephone server 6, for example voice, managed by the authentication authority. Once the communication has been established between user 1 and the voice server 6, said server 6 requests user 1 to enter the

  codes ICj of the elements PWj chosen and the reference of the session NSj.

  This information is entered via the keyboard of the telephone set. For example, ICj code numbers are separated

  by an indicator, such as the * key on the telephone set 5.

  When all the information supplied by the user is entered, the user 1 presses a key, for example the

  communication equipment key # 5.

  In practice, the authentication authority, via the voice server 6, requests the user to enter confidential identification data ID which makes it possible to identify and authenticate the user. These confidential identification data ID can be for example a bank account number, a bank code number, as well as other data such as the amount of a line of the statement

on a chosen date.

  s Of course, the authentication authority already holds the confidential identification data ID of

user 1.

  o The fact of using communication networks (preferably separate and disjoint) to exchange information between the authentication authority and the user, whose flows are sufficiently intense and trivialized, makes fraudulent interception very difficult,

  resulting from systematic espionage.

  Furthermore, when assigning the password, the user navigates in a tree structure of pages, which in no way informs about the choices of the user since the latter memorizes his

  choice in his brain or on a piece of paper.

  In addition, interception of PWi elements at the level of the user's computer is not possible since all the elements which are displayed during the allocation of the password are likely to be eligible, without distinction for the fraudulent 2s interceptor. In addition, there is nothing to guarantee to the fraudulent entity which recorded the session that this session will be used. Likewise, nothing informs the fraudulent entity of the instant when said session will be used. As a result, the fraudulent entity must record all of the sessions and data in order to deduce confidential data, which is difficult to envisage with current means.

Claims (6)

  1 / Method for assigning an authentication code to a user (1) by an authentication authority (7), characterized in that said authority (7) communicates to said user (1) a plurality of elements (PWi) capable of forming said authentication code (MP), each element (PWi) being identified by a corresponding identification code (I Ci), in that said user 0 (1) chooses the element or elements ( PWj) forming said authentication code (MP) and in that said user (1) communicates to said authority (7) the said identification code (s) (ICj)   corresponding to the said element (s) chosen (PWj).   2 / A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the plurality of elements (PWi) capable of forming the authentication code (MP) e st con stituce of elements belonging to the group formed by concept representations, representations alphanumeric, pictograms, images, o combinations of graphic representations and alphanumeric and the like.   3 / A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the identification codes (ICi) belong to the group formed by   s alphanumeric and similar representations.   4 / Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that   the authentication authority (7) communicates to the user (1) the elements (PWi) capable of forming the authentication code during a communication session through a data communication network of the internet type (RI), telephone (RT), or the like.   s 5 / A method according to claim 4, characterized in that each identification code is also coupled to a session number (NSi) relating to the session during which the authentication authority (7) communicates to the user (1) the elements (PWi) capable of forming the authentication code while o the user (1) also communicates to the authority (7) the number of   session (NSj) associated with said identification code (ICj).   6 / A method according to claim 5, characterized in that the   session number (NS) varies periodically at a chosen rate.   7 / A method according to claim 6, characterized in that the change of the session number (N S) takes place at each allocation of an authentication code or within a time window. thing. 8 / Device for assigning an authentication code to a user (1) by an authentication authority (7), characterized in that said authority (7) comprises communication means (4) suitable for communicating with said user (1) a plurality 2s of elements (PWi) capable of forming said authentication code (MP), each element (PWi) being identified by a corresponding identification code (ICi), in that said user (1 ) comprises means (2) allowing him to choose the element (s) (PWj) forming said authentication code (MP) and in that said user (1) comprises communication means (5) suitable for communicating with said authority (7) the said identification code (s) (ICj) corresponding to the said selected element (s) (PWj). 9 / Device according to claim 8, characterized in that the authentication authority (7) is accessible to the user (1) via a remote access terminal to a data communication network Internet (RI) or telephone o (RT) type, payment terminal, television set   interactive, or a distributor of goods or services, or the like.   1O / Device according to claim 8, characterized in that the authentication authority (7) belongs to the group formed by S financial organizations or merchant sites hosted by   servers accessible remotely or locally.