Lecture 19: User Authentication (Apr 7)

Lecture 19 began with a presentation of the effects of quantum cryptography on the future of computer security. The discussion was twofold. First the use of photons for data to transfer allows a method of providing complete security against man in the middle attacks (BB84 Protocol). The second topic discussed was the use of quantum computers to defeat security measures that would be infeasible with modern systems (shores algorithm).

Finally Dr. Gunes continued the class with last week’s lecture on Access Control. This portion of the lecture reviewed the benefits and drawbacks of ACL, ACM, and capabilities methods of restricting access control.

This week’s topic, User Authentication, was about how electronic systems identify and authenticate users. Identifying users is a difficult task for machines. Machines can use a variety of features for identification including what a person knows, has, or even a person’s physical features. Each of which has its own disadvantages. We also discussed the additional difficulties of remote logins, and the practice of combining multiple authentication methods for enhanced security.