SOAP: A Social Authentication Protocol

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Linker, Felix, Basin, David
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866929234468929536
author Linker, Felix
Basin, David
author_facet Linker, Felix
Basin, David
contents Social authentication has been suggested as a usable authentication ceremony to replace manual key authentication in messaging applications. Using social authentication, chat partners authenticate their peers using digital identities managed by identity providers. In this paper, we formally define social authentication, present a protocol called SOAP that largely automates social authentication, formally prove SOAP's security, and demonstrate SOAP's practicality in two prototypes. One prototype is web-based, and the other is implemented in the open-source Signal messaging application. Using SOAP, users can significantly raise the bar for compromising their messaging accounts. In contrast to the default security provided by messaging applications such as Signal and WhatsApp, attackers must compromise both the messaging account and all identity provider-managed identities to attack a victim. In addition to its security and automation, SOAP is straightforward to adopt as it is built on top of the well-established OpenID Connect protocol.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_03199
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle SOAP: A Social Authentication Protocol
Linker, Felix
Basin, David
Cryptography and Security
C.2.2; K.6.5
Social authentication has been suggested as a usable authentication ceremony to replace manual key authentication in messaging applications. Using social authentication, chat partners authenticate their peers using digital identities managed by identity providers. In this paper, we formally define social authentication, present a protocol called SOAP that largely automates social authentication, formally prove SOAP's security, and demonstrate SOAP's practicality in two prototypes. One prototype is web-based, and the other is implemented in the open-source Signal messaging application. Using SOAP, users can significantly raise the bar for compromising their messaging accounts. In contrast to the default security provided by messaging applications such as Signal and WhatsApp, attackers must compromise both the messaging account and all identity provider-managed identities to attack a victim. In addition to its security and automation, SOAP is straightforward to adopt as it is built on top of the well-established OpenID Connect protocol.
title SOAP: A Social Authentication Protocol
topic Cryptography and Security
C.2.2; K.6.5
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.03199