basic question: semantics of "map", "tie", etc in PKI

David Honig dahonig at cox.net
Tue Jul 8 15:07:51 EDT 2003


At 11:40 AM 7/8/03 -0600, Anne & Lynn Wheeler wrote:
>A hardware token that requires a PIN/password to operate can be considered 
>two-factor authentication ("something you have" and "something you know"). 

I was going to comment on how a simple plastic debit card
that includes a photo provides the third "something you are".
(More reliably than the signature, which is also "something 
you are", but readily forged/ignored.)  

Then it occurred to me: as cameras become ubiquitous
(e.g., in cell phones) some extra security could be obtained
by sending a trusted photo of the account holder plus a live picture
of the card user.

A picture glued into the card could be forged, but a 
smartcard (with more data area than a magstripe)
could include a picture of the account holder,
so a thief has no idea what to look like.  But the vendor can
check the encrypted smartcard face to the face on the phone
or webcam.  For high-value remote transactions, this might
be viable in a few years.  

This is already standard practice
on high-security building-entry cards (and passports?), 
with the guard comparing the card-embedded face to the one before him.  
Ubiquitous cameras will bring that to remote transactions,
reducing cost due to lower fraud.









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