Enhancing Multi-Factor Authentication for Mobile Devices Through Cryptographic Zero-Knowledge Protocols

During the last few years, smart mobile devices have constituted an indispensable part of our lives, being a main element for many daily activities. However, it is well known that several security and privacy concerns still occur, especially taking into account their role as an authentication factor for many users’ applications. This paper focuses on multi-factor authentication methods based on mobile devices, proposing a new user authentication scheme based on cryptographic zero-knowledge protocols. This new approach aims to enhance, with minimal effort and cost, any existing authentication method by offering an additional authentication factor based on a unique device identifier through an intuitive and adaptable solution that can be seamlessly integrated into any mobile system, thus providing an additional authentication layer. The ultimate goal is to bridge the gap between ease of use and strengthening security without disrupting the existing infrastructure. A security analysis of the new scheme is presented, whereas an implementation illustrates its effectiveness. It is also shown that this approach is in line with relevant legal data protection and privacy requirements.