Identity Management with Petname Systems

Abstract

In the first part of the thesis, we have focused on providing a brief overview of Petname Systems starting from the introductory concept of Entity, Identity and Identity Management with a brief description on different IdM architectures. We have found that the Petname Model is well suited to be integrated in the Personal SP Identity model. We also provided a brief description on Identity Theft and the Phishing attack with different attack techniques and defense mechanisms. Then we summarized the history and evolution of the Petname Model in one place. Previously it was scattered among several web articles. We have formally defined the properties of Petname Systems and explained how this set of properties can satisfy the essential security usability principles. It is our belief that if these properties are followed in developing applications based on the Petname Model, it will improve the user experience and improve overall security by removing security vulnerabilities related to poor usability. The thesis has also analyzed two available Petname-based applications for server identification management and shown that they represent an improvement in usability, but unfortunately do not satisfy all the specified Security Usability principles. In the second part, we have developed the UniPet, a Petname Model based application with similar functionalities of the Petname Tool and the TrustBar, that utilizes the concept of aiding user in identifying SP identities securely on their side. We have deployed several technologies to meet the complex level of interaction the UniPet asks for. We have provided a brief discussion on each of the technologies to better understand the UniPet architecture. We have also shown that the UniPet has been a major improvement on GUI and on the security usability issues over those two applications. The UniPet satisfies all the properties of a Petname System and thus is fully compliant with the Security Usability principles. We believe that the UniPet will provide the users with an improved and secure browsing experience.