HYBRID MULTIFACTOR AUTHENTICATION OF PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK NODES

Abstract

Method of hybrid multifactor authentication of nodes in the peer-to-peer network is developed. Method includes the authentication both of initial nodes and secondary nodes (connected to the available network). Each node must first perform authentication by the server, as a result of the authentication it obtains the token of access to the server, communication taken (necessary for performing communication with the node), and service token (for the exchange of the service data with other nodes). Further the node must be authenticated by other node. For this purpose predefined identifiers, zero knowledge proof method and network of trust are. Knowing identifier of another user the node can be authenticated after passing verification by zero knowledge proof method in three stages. First  it is verified that the node possesses the knowledge of the server address. Further the validity of token is verified by means of verification of the date of issuing a token (in this process, server, which provides date of issue by identifier participates). The last step is verification is  if the node can correctly code certain data. For this purpose, pseudo-random sequence of numbers is generated, it must be coded by the server and node.  Only server and node know the encryption key (in case of server authentication key is generated for each node). If all verification stages are successful, then the nodes exchange  identification data and, thus, become mutually authenticated. By means of the network of trust, if two nodes are not mutually authenticated but are authenticated by the third node, then they can directly exchange  identification data without passing the verification process by means of zero knowledge proof. The suggested method is directed to the increase of the security level of peer-to-peer networks. Important aspect is the possibility to cut off potentially harmful nodes before their actual connection to the network.