Communications of the ACM
New Technology Protects Against Password Theft and Phishing Attacks
A new anti-phishing system is designed to create an electronic identity card for each website an Internet user visits.
Credit: Anchor Technologies
Scientists from University of London's Royal Holloway say they can protect Internet users from phishing attacks with a new system called Uni-IDM.
The technology is designed to create electronic identity cards for each website visited by an Internet user. The cards are securely stored, and owners click on the card when they want to log back in. The data will only be sent to the authentic website.
A key feature of the system is that it is able to recognize the increasing number of websites that offer more secure log-in systems and offer people a helpful and uniform way of using the sites. In particular, the technology could serve as a more secure method for Internet users at home.
"We have known for a long time that the username and password system is problematic and very insecure, proving a headache for even the largest websites," says Royal Holloway professor Chris Mitchell. However, he observes that "username and password remains the dominant technology, and while large corporations have been able to employ more secure methods, attempts to provide homes with similar protection have been unsuccessful, except in a few cases such as online banking. The hope is that our technology will finally make it possible to provide more sophisticated technology to protect all Internet users."
From Royal Holloway, University of London
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