Yubikey One-Time Password Authentication

How to add one-time passwords to your own system for added security without investing in an expensive authentication infrastructure.

Figure 7. Typo: Account-Specific Yubikey Configuration Options UI

Now that we have the setup all taken care of, we can focus on the actual authentication during login. First, let's add a Yubikey OTP input field to the login screen provided that Yubikey authentication is enabled for the whole blog. I have done this by modifying the partial template that renders the login form in Listing 5. Notice that we always have to show the Yubikey OTP field during login, because until users supply their user names, we don't know whether Yubikey authentication is required for a particular user. Figure 8 shows the modified login screen.

When the login form is submitted, Rails routes it to the login method of the AccountsController class (Listing 6). This is where we add the logic to check whether we need to handle Yubikey authentication. After the existing code has verified the regular login and password, we now have an instantiated user object that can tell us whether Yubikey authentication is required for this user. If so, we invoke the static method authenticate_yubikey of the user object. Looking at Listing 7, we check that neither the Yubikey OTP from the login form nor the user's public Yubikey ID are blank. Moreover, by definition, the first 12 characters of the OTP have to match the public ID associated with the account. If everything is in order, we instantiate a Yubico object, which will handle the Web service authentication request for us. The method simply returns a boolean. True means the user was authenticated successfully. Conversely, false implies an invalid OTP or an attempt by an unauthorized user—possibly an attempt to hack into the account.

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bad link

Christian Peper's picture

FYI

the link to supported apps is broken.
http://yubico.com/applications/software/ is the correct one

Swekey

Swekey's picture

Hi Dirk,

If you are interested in authentication you should also have a look on the swekey.

It is a totally different approach than the Yubikey.

If you want a free sample for evaluation I'll be happy to send you one...

Regards,

Luc

2 step authentication

Anonymous's picture

What is to prevent the attacker from simulating the response to the first step? More than a simple challenge to the user will be too much of a burden to the user, while a simple challenge will likely be easy to work-around.

I would suggest using the Yubikey device with HTTP Digest Authentication. Of course, the Yubikey OTP will have to be entered in the User Name field, not the password.

It is 10 dreams come true!

Jane's picture

Secure, elegant, and innovative!

http://mashedlife.com//dream2.php

Keep the good work!

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