Topics Covered User Authentication Passwords Tokens Biometrics Recommended Reading 2 User Authentication 2.1 Purposes

Computational Power. We have been assuming in our previous discussions that people can do complicated calculations. Encryption, hashing, ZK proofs, etc. all require a user to perform di cult computations. But people don't do computations, machines do. How do we, as people, identify ourselves to a machine? Access control. The process of of enforcing access rights for network resources. Access control grants or denies permission to a given user for accessing a resource and protects resources by limiting access to only authenticated and authorized users. Computers may be required to control access to computer logins, buildings, or restricted databases. Authorization. The process of assigning access rights to a user. The access rights include speci cation, such as whether the user is permitted to read, write, or