ReCRED: a new paradigm for a secure and user-friendly authentication
CNIT in collaboration with 11 European partners is carrying out the Horizon2020 project called ReCRED – From Real-world Identities to Privacy-preserving and Attribute-based CREDentials for Device-centric Access Control.
Started in 2015, the project aims for solving the main problems of authentication and online identity management through the use of the passwords:
- the password overload, referring to the inability of users to remember different secure passwords for each one of their accounts;
- the identity fragmentation, stemming from the fact that independent identity providers (email, social networks, etc.) create disjoint identity realms;
- the lack of real-world identity binding to an individual’s legal presence.
Nowadays, most of the authentication mechanisms to access web services rely on the combination of username and passwords, a technology developed in the ‘60s. Beside it is familiar and widely used, password results highly insecure and frustrating.
The innovation in this domain needs to provide new solutions for the authentication, with the right balance between security and usability, for example by taking advantage from the biometric factors.
This is the direction taken by the ReCRED project. The goal is to develop a unifying access control framework that involves online and physical authentication and authorization via an off-the-shelf mobile device.
Among the different functionalities, ReCRED includes a system of anonymous credentials that verify specific attributes or properties of the users (for example, the age) without revealing other sensitive data, while guaranteeing the user’s privacy.
To sum up, the innovation proposed by ReCRED is a step further towards a secure and simple management of the online identities.
ReCRED makes your digital life safe and definitely easy!
For more information about the project:
- Web site: www.recred.eu
- YouTube: ReCRED_2020
- Facebook: ReCREDH2020
- Twitter: ReCRED_H2020