KR20140111748A - User authentification method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for authenticating a user. The disclosed method for authenticating a user comprises the steps of: receiving first string data including characters or numbers; determining second string data including characters or numbers used for authentication; creating third string data including at least a part of the first string data and at least a part of the second string data; outputting an image file or a voice file which differentiates partial characters or numbers included in the third string data from remaining characters or numbers; receiving authentication data corresponding to the partial characters or numbers; and processing authentication based on the result of comparison between the received authentication data and the third string data. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent readability by people from being deteriorated excessively while properly degrading readability through computing.

Description

[0001] USER AUTHENTIFICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS [0002]

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for authenticating a user, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for authenticating a normal user using character string data including characters or numbers.

As will be appreciated, user authentication is indispensable when an electronic transaction is used on the Internet or membership registration is performed, and there are various forms of user authentication methods used at this time. Among such user authentication methods, there is an authentication method using character string data including characters or numbers.

The authentication method using string data displays character string data including a series of characters and / or numbers on the screen of the user terminal, induces the user to input the read information, and determines whether the input information matches with the character string data To authenticate a normal user. The string data may be generated randomly, or may be input or provided by the user.

On the other hand, when character string data is displayed on a user terminal, it is possible to output text data in a form using a font having excellent readability such as a stereogram. However, illegal cases in which automatic recognition using electronic equipment such as a computer and malicious use thereof are frequently And it improves the security by deliberately reducing the readability of character string data through computing.

The most typical example of how to reduce the readability of character string data through computing is to output the character string data in an image format instead of a text format.

This method of outputting the string data in the image form has been widely used in the early days because it results in a certain degree of readability of the string data through computing.

However, in recent years, image processing technology through computing has developed, and malicious use can not be blocked only by the image output method.

Accordingly, in the prior art, there is a method of inputting only the separated letters or numbers by first outputting larger characters or the remaining numbers so as to distinguish some characters or some numbers, and secondly, And a method of performing distortion processing such as drawing is used.

However, the first method still has a problem that malicious use can not be effectively blocked due to high readability of character data by computing.

The second method has a drawback that the readability of the string data is excessively lowered, and even normal use by the person is hindered. Particularly, when the character string data is not information inputted or provided by the user but is randomly generated information, the readability is further reduced, which hinders normal user authentication.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2003-0079640, published on October 10, 2003.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the problems of the conventional art as described above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for discriminating a character or a part of a character string including character or numerical value, And the user authentication method and apparatus are provided so that the readability by the user is not excessively deteriorated.

In addition, the present invention provides a user authentication method and apparatus for preventing human readability from being degraded by using character string data including both input and provided information and newly generated information for user authentication.

The problems to be solved by the present invention are not limited to those mentioned above, and another problem to be solved can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for authenticating a user, comprising: inputting first character string data including a character or a number; determining second character string data including a character or a number to be used for authentication; Generating third character string data including at least a part of the character string data and at least a part of the second character string data, generating an image in which some or some of the characters of the third character string data are distinguished from the remaining characters or the remaining numbers Outputting a file or a voice file; receiving authentication data corresponding to the part of the characters or a part of digits; processing authentication in accordance with the comparison result of the input authentication data and the third character string data . ≪ / RTI >

Here, the determining may extract the second character string data from the validity verification result of the first character string data.

The outputting may randomly select some of the characters or some of the numbers.

The outputting may output the image file in which the thickness of some characters or some of the numbers is different from the thickness of the remaining characters or the remaining numbers.

The outputting step may output the voice file in which the size of the sound of some of the characters or some of the numbers is different from the size of the sound of the remaining characters or the remaining numbers.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of authenticating a user, comprising the steps of: generating character string data including a character or a number to be used for authentication; and converting the partial character or partial number of the character string data into a character string A step of inputting authentication data corresponding to a part of the characters or a part of digits, and a step of processing authentication according to a result of comparison between the authentication data and the character string data have.

Here, the outputting may randomly select some characters or some numbers.

As a third aspect of the present invention, a user authentication apparatus includes a data input unit for inputting first character string data including characters or numbers and authentication data, a character string for determining second character string data including characters or numbers to be used for authentication, A character string generating unit for generating third character string data including at least a part of the first character string data and at least a part of the second character string data; A character string output unit for outputting an image file or an audio file which is distinguished from the remaining digits by a predetermined number or a predetermined number; And an authentication processing unit.

Here, the character string determination unit may extract the second character string data from the validity verification result of the first character string data.

The character string output unit may randomly select some characters or some digits.

The character string output unit may output the image file in which the thickness of some characters or some digits is different from the thickness of the remaining characters or the remaining digits.

The character string output unit may output the voice file in which the size of the sound of some characters or some digits is made different from the size of the sound of the remaining characters or the remaining digits.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a user authentication apparatus comprising: a character string generation unit for generating character string data including a character or a number to be used for authentication; and a character string generation unit for generating a character string, A data input unit for inputting authentication data corresponding to a part of the characters or a part of digits; and a step for processing authentication in accordance with the comparison result of the input authentication data and the character string data . ≪ / RTI >

Here, the character string output unit may randomly select some characters or some digits.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, some characters or some numbers in character string data including letters or numbers are distinguished from other characters or the remaining numbers by differentiating them so that readability through computing is reduced, Ensure that readability is not degraded too much.

In addition, the present invention uses character string data including both input information provided by a user and newly generated information in user authentication, so that readability by a person is not excessively lowered.

Therefore, it is possible to protect against attack through memory modulation or transaction information speculation, thus providing higher reliability for electronic transactions. In addition, since the authentication information is irregularly selected based on the transaction information and the verification information inputted by the user and is provided as an image or a voice file, unnecessary error transaction due to error input is generated by increasing human readability or audibility .

1 is a configuration diagram of an electronic transaction authentication system including a user authentication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a detailed block diagram of a user authentication apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for authenticating a user by a user authentication apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
4 is an illustration of an image file for authentication outputted by a user terminal according to the user authentication apparatus and the user authentication method of the present invention.
5 is a detailed block diagram of a user authentication apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flowchart illustrating a method for authenticating a user by a user authentication apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The advantages and features of the present invention, and the manner of achieving them, will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. To fully disclose the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art, and the invention is only defined by the scope of the claims.

In the following description of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear. The following terms are defined in consideration of the functions in the embodiments of the present invention, which may vary depending on the intention of the user, the intention or the custom of the operator. Therefore, the definition should be based on the contents throughout this specification.

1 is a configuration diagram of an electronic transaction authentication system including a user authentication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As described above, the electronic transaction authentication system can be connected to the user terminal 10 through the communication network 20 by the electronic transaction server 30 including or cooperating with the user authentication apparatus 100.

According to the first embodiment of the present invention, the user authentication apparatus 100 receives information input or provided to the user terminal 10 by a user through the communication network 20, newly generates information for authentication, And uses character string data including both the information transmitted from the authentication apparatus 100 and the newly generated information for user authentication. The character string for user authentication is reproduced after being transmitted to the user terminal 10 through the communication network 20. When the user inputs the read information to the user terminal 10, And handles the authentication of the normal user according to the result of comparison with the character string data.

The detailed configuration of the user authentication apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 3 shows a user authentication method according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Meanwhile, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the user authentication apparatus may include an authentication image file that distinguishes some characters or some numbers of character string data including letters or numbers by different thickness from the remaining characters or the remaining numbers When the user terminal 10 receives the image file for authentication through the communication network 20 and reproduces the image file on the screen, if the user inputs the read information to the user terminal 10, the read and input information is transmitted to the communication network 20 ), And processes the authentication for the normal user according to the result of comparison with the character string data. The user authentication apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention is distinguished from the first embodiment by referring to the reference numeral '400' in FIG. FIG. 6 illustrates a method of authenticating a user according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the first embodiment and the second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

≪ Embodiment 1 >

2 is a detailed block diagram of the user authentication apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

The user authentication apparatus 100 includes a data input unit 110, a character string determination unit 120, a character string generation unit 130, a character string output unit 140, and an authentication processing unit 150.

The data input unit 110 receives the first character string data including characters or numbers from the user terminal 10 via the communication network 20 and transmits the character string data for authentication corresponding to the authentication character string data reproduced by the user terminal 10 When the data is input to the user terminal 10, the data is inputted through the communication network 20.

The string determination unit 120 determines second character string data including characters or numbers to be used for authentication. The string determination unit 120 may extract the second character string data from the verification result of the first character string data.

The character string generating unit 130 generates third character string data including at least a part of the first character string data and at least a part of the second character string data.

The character string output unit 140 outputs an image file or an audio file as character string data for authentication in which some characters or some digits of the third character string data are distinguished from the remaining characters or the remaining digits. The character string output unit 140 may randomly select some characters or some digits to generate an image file or an audio file so as to be distinguished from the remaining characters or the remaining digits. An image file or an audio file can be generated so that the thickness of some characters or some of the numbers is different from the thickness of the remaining characters or the remaining numbers. Alternatively, an image file or an audio file can be generated so that the sound size of some characters or some numbers is different from the sound size of the remaining characters or the remaining numbers.

The authentication processing unit 150 receives the image file or voice file output by the character string output unit 140 from the character string outputting unit 140 via the communication network 20 after the user terminal 10 reproduces the image file or the voice file When the user inputs the read information to the user terminal 10, the read and input information is received through the communication network 20 and authentication of the normal user is performed according to the comparison result with the third character string data.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a user authentication method by the user authentication apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in the figure, the user authentication method includes steps (S201 to S205) of inputting first character string data including a character or a number, a second character string including a character or number to be used for authentication from the verification result of the first character string data (S207 to S209) of generating character string data; generating (S311) third character string data including at least a part of the first character string data and at least a part of the second character string data; A step S213 of outputting an image file or an audio file in which characters or some digits are randomly selected and distinguished from the remaining characters or the remaining digits, a step S215 of inputting authentication data corresponding to some characters or some digits S225), and processing authentication in accordance with the comparison result of the input authentication data and the third character string data (S227 - S233).

Here, the image file based on the third character string data can display some characters or some numbers in bold as shown in an example of reference numeral 300 in FIG. 4, and the voice file according to the third character string data can display some characters or some numbers Can be expressed to be larger than the remaining characters or the acoustic size of the remaining numbers.

Hereinafter, a user authentication method by the user authentication apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG.

First, when the user inputs first character string data including characters or numbers (S201) using the interface of the user terminal 10, the inputted first character string data is transmitted to the electronic transaction server 30 via the communication network 20 (S203), and the first character string data is input to the data input unit 110 of the user authentication apparatus 100 (S205). For example, the user can input 'Sample 12410111' as the first character string data according to the transaction information of the account number 12410111 of the sample bank.

Then, the character string determination unit 120 of the user authentication apparatus 100 determines the second character string data including characters or numbers to be used for authentication from the verification result (S207) of the first character string data (S209). For example, the string determination unit 120 performs validity verification on a financial transaction server (not shown) with respect to the account number, and if the name of the account number 12410111 is Thomson according to a result of the validity check, It can be decided by 2 string data.

Thereafter, the character string generating unit 130 generates third character string data including at least a part of the first character string data and at least a part of the second character string data (S211). For example, the string generating unit 130 may generate 'Sample 12410111 Tomson' as the third string data.

Next, the authentication output unit 140 randomly selects some characters or some digits of the third character string data and outputs an image file or an audio file distinguished from the remaining characters or the remaining digits (S213). For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the authentication output unit 140 outputs 'Sa m ple 1 24 1 011 1 To ms on', which selects some letters and some numbers among 'Sample 12410111 Tomson' The image file 300 can be output. Alternatively, it is possible to generate and output a voice file that has a larger sound size instead of displaying some characters and some numbers in bold.

The image file or voice file generated and output in this manner is transmitted through the electronic transaction server 30 and the communication network 20 in step S215 and input to the user terminal 10 in step S217. Or the audio file is played back (S219). At this time, as shown in the example of FIG. 4, the user recognizes a voice in which some characters and some numbers are expressed in bold or a larger sound among 'Sa m ple 1 24 1 011 1 To ms on'. For example, some letters and some numbers may be provided with a bolder image for a visually impaired person or an ambassador, and a voice output with a larger sound may be provided. Then, the user identifies some characters or some numbers distinguished from the remaining characters or the remaining numbers in the reproduced information, and inputs authentication data corresponding to the identified information (S221).

Thereafter, the authentication data input by the user is transmitted by the user terminal 10 through the communication network 20 (S223) and input by the data input unit 110 of the user authentication apparatus 100 (S225).

Next, the authentication processing unit 150 compares the authentication data input in step S225 and the third character string data generated in step S211 (S227), and processes the authentication according to the comparison result (S229). For example, if it is determined in step S213 that some characters or some numbers randomly selected from the third character string data match the authentication data input in step S221, it can be authenticated that the user is a normal user.

The authentication result is transmitted by the user authentication apparatus 100 through the communication network 20 (S231), and the user terminal 10 receiving the authentication result outputs the authentication result as an image or voice so that the user can recognize the result S233).

On the other hand, in the modification of the first embodiment of the present invention as described above, even if step S207 is excluded or step S207 is included, the second character string data is not included in step S211 but the third character string data is generated with only the first character string data It is possible. In this case, it is possible to increase the number of some letters or some numbers randomly selected to provide equal security.

≪ Embodiment 2 >

5 is a detailed block diagram of the user authentication apparatus 400 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

The user authentication apparatus 400 includes a data input unit 410, a character string generation unit 420, a character string output unit 430, and an authentication processing unit 440.

The data input unit 110 receives character string data including letters or numerals to be used for authentication from the user terminal 10 via the communication network 20 and performs authentication corresponding to the authentication character string data reproduced by the user terminal 10 The user terminal 10 receives the input data through the communication network 20.

The character string generating unit 420 randomly selects at least a part of the character string data to generate character string data for authentication.

The character string output unit 430 outputs an image file in which some characters or some numbers in the character string for authentication are differentiated from the remaining characters or the remaining characters by the thickness.

The authentication processing unit 440 receives the information read by the user after the user terminal 10 having received the image file, which is the string data for authentication output by the character string output unit 430, via the communication network 20 reproduces the image file The user terminal 10 receives the read and input information through the communication network 20 and processes authentication for the normal user according to the result of comparison with the authentication character string data.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a user authentication method by the user authentication apparatus 400 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

As described above, the user authentication method includes a step (S501) for receiving character string data including a character or a number, a step (S503) for generating authentication character string data including at least a part randomly selected from the character string data, A step (S505) of outputting an image file in which some characters or some numbers randomly selected from the character string data for authentication are distinguished from each other by different thicknesses from the remaining characters or the remaining numbers; and a step (S507), and processing authentication in accordance with the comparison result between the input authentication data and the authentication character string data (S509 to S513).

Hereinafter, the user authentication method by the user authentication apparatus 400 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 1, FIG. 4 to FIG.

First, when a user inputs character string data including characters or numbers using the interface of the user terminal 10, the inputted character string data is transmitted to the electronic transaction server 30 through the communication network 20, The character string data is input to the data input unit 110 of the memory 400. For example, the user may input 'Sample 12410111 Tomson' as the first string data according to the account number 12410111 of the sample bank and transaction information of the author Thomson.

Then, the character string generating unit 420 of the user authentication apparatus 400 randomly selects some characters or some numbers from the character string data (S501) and generates authentication character string data to be used for authentication (S503). Here, the character string generation unit 420 may directly generate character string data for authentication without receiving character string data through the user terminal 10. [

Next, the character string output unit 430 outputs an image file in which some characters randomly selected or some characters are distinguished from the remaining characters or the remaining characters (S505). For example, the character string output unit 430 may output a character string of 'Sa m ple 1 24 1 011 1 To ms on', which is formed by selecting some characters and some digits from 'Sample 12410111 Tomson' An image file can be output.

The image file generated and output as described above is transmitted through the electronic transaction server 30 and the communication network 20 to be input to the user terminal 10 and the image file is reproduced by the user terminal 10. At this time, as shown in the example of FIG. 4, the user recognizes an image in which some characters and some numbers are expressed in bold in 'Sa m ple 1 24 1 011 1 To ms on'. Then, the user identifies some characters or some numbers distinguished from the remaining characters or the remaining numbers in the reproduced information, and inputs authentication data corresponding to the identified information.

Thereafter, the authentication data input by the user is transmitted through the communication network 20 by the user terminal 10 and input by the data input unit 410 of the user authentication apparatus 400 (S507).

Next, the authentication processing unit 440 compares the authentication data input in step S507 with the character string data generated in step S503 (S509), and processes the authentication according to the comparison result (S511). For example, if some characters or some numbers randomly selected in step S502 match the authentication data input in step S507, it can be authenticated that the user is a normal user.

When the authentication result is output (S513) by the authentication processing unit 440, the user authentication apparatus 400 transmits the authentication result through the communication network 20, and the user terminal 10 receiving the authentication result outputs an authentication result as an image, So that it can be recognized.

Combinations of each step of the flowchart and each block of the block diagrams appended to the present invention may be performed by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be loaded into a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus so that the instructions, which may be executed by a processor of a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, And means for performing the functions described in each step are created. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer usable or computer readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to implement the functionality in a particular manner so that the computer usable or computer readable memory It is also possible for the instructions stored in the block diagram to produce a manufacturing item containing instruction means for performing the functions described in each block or flowchart of the block diagram. Computer program instructions may also be stored on a computer or other programmable data processing equipment so that a series of operating steps may be performed on a computer or other programmable data processing equipment to create a computer- It is also possible that the instructions that perform the processing equipment provide the steps for executing the functions described in each block of the block diagram and at each step of the flowchart.

Also, each block or each step may represent a module, segment, or portion of code that includes one or more executable instructions for executing the specified logical function (s). It should also be noted that in some alternative embodiments, the functions mentioned in the blocks or steps may occur out of order. For example, two blocks or steps shown in succession may in fact be performed substantially concurrently, or the blocks or steps may sometimes be performed in reverse order according to the corresponding function.

The foregoing description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present invention and various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are intended to illustrate rather than limit the scope of the present invention, and the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments. The scope of protection of the present invention should be construed according to the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope of equivalents should be construed as falling within the scope of the present invention.

100, 400: User authentication device
110, 410: Data input unit
120: String determination unit
130, 420: a string generating unit
140, 430: String output unit
150, and 440:

Claims (14)

Receiving first character string data including a character or a number,
Determining second character string data including letters or numbers to be used for authentication,
Generating third character string data including at least a portion of the first character string data and at least a portion of the second character string data;
Outputting an image file or an audio file in which some characters or some digits of the third character string data are distinguished from other characters or remaining digits;
Receiving authentication data corresponding to a part of characters or a part of digits;
And processing the authentication according to a result of comparison between the input authentication data and the third character string data.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the determining step extracts the second character string data from the validity verification result of the first character string data.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the outputting step randomly selects the partial character or a partial number.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the outputting step outputs the image file in which the thickness of some characters or some of the numbers is different from the thickness of the remaining characters or the remaining numbers.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the outputting step outputs the voice file in which the sound size of some characters or some numbers is differentiated from the sound size of the remaining characters or the remaining numbers.
Generating character string data including characters or numbers to be used for authentication;
Outputting a part or all of the characters of the character string data differentially from the remaining characters or the remaining numbers,
Receiving authentication data corresponding to a part of characters or a part of digits;
And processing the authentication according to a result of comparison between the input authentication data and the character string data.
The method according to claim 6,
Wherein the outputting step randomly selects the partial character or a partial number.
A data input unit for inputting first character string data including characters or numbers and authentication data,
A character string determination unit for determining second character string data including letters or numbers to be used for authentication,
A character string generating unit for generating third character string data including at least a part of the first character string data and at least a part of the second character string data;
A character string output unit for outputting an image file or an audio file in which some or some digits of the third character string data are distinguished from the remaining characters or the remaining digits,
And an authentication processing unit for processing authentication in accordance with a result of comparison between the authentication data and the third character string data, which are input in correspondence with the part of the characters or a part of the digits.
9. The method of claim 8,
And the character string determination unit extracts the second character string data from the validity verification result of the first character string data.
9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the character string output unit randomly selects the partial character or a partial number.
9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the character string output unit outputs the image file in which the thickness of some characters or some digits is made different from the thickness of the remaining characters or the remaining digits.
9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the character string output unit outputs the voice file in which the size of the sound of some characters or some digits is made different from the size of sound of the remaining characters or the remaining digits.
A character string generation unit for generating character string data including characters or numbers to be used for authentication;
A character string output unit for outputting a part or all of the characters of the character string data in a manner different from the remaining characters or the remaining characters;
A data input unit for inputting authentication data corresponding to some of the characters or some numbers;
And processing the authentication in accordance with the comparison result of the input authentication data and the character string data.
14. The method of claim 13,
Wherein the character string output unit randomly selects the partial character or a partial number.

Images