Modern browsers give access to several attributes that can be collected to form a browser fingerprint. Although browser fingerprints have primarily been studied as a web tracking tool, they can contribute to improve the current state of web security by augmenting web authentication mechanisms. In this paper, we investigate the adequacy of browser fingerprints for web authentication. We make the link between the digital fingerprints that distinguish browsers, and the biological fingerprints that distinguish Humans, to evaluate browser fingerprints according to properties inspired by biometric authentication factors. These properties include their distinctiveness, their stability through time, their collection time, their size, and the accuracy of a simple verification mechanism. We assess these properties on a large-scale dataset of 4,145,408 fingerprints composed of 216 attributes, and collected from 1,989,365 browsers. We show that, by time-partitioning our dataset, more than 81.3% of our fingerprints are shared by a single browser. Although browser fingerprints are known to evolve, an average of 91% of the attributes of our fingerprints stay identical between two observations, even when separated by nearly 6 months. About their performance, we show that our fingerprints weigh a dozen of kilobytes, and take a few seconds to collect. Finally, by processing a simple verification mechanism, we show that it achieves an equal error rate of 0.61%. We enrich our results with the analysis of the correlation between the attributes, and of their contribution to the evaluated properties. We conclude that our browser fingerprints carry the promise to strengthen web authentication mechanisms.
Browsers and their users can be tracked even in the absence of a persistent IP address or cookie. Unique and hence identifying pieces of information, making up what is known as a fingerprint, can be collected from browsers by a visited website, e.g. using JavaScript. However, browsers vary in precisely what information they make available, and hence their fingerprintability may also vary. In this paper, we report on the results of experiments examining the fingerprintable attributes made available by a range of modern browsers. We tested the most widely used browsers for both desktop and mobil…
Browser fingerprinting consists in collecting attributes from a web browser to build a browser fingerprint. In this work, we assess the adequacy of browser fingerprints as an authentication factor, on a dataset of 4,145,408 fingerprints composed of 216 attributes. It was collected throughout 6 months from a population of general browsers. We identify, formalize, and assess the properties for browser fingerprints to be usable and practical as an authentication factor. We notably evaluate their distinctiveness, their stability through time, their collection time, and their size in memory. We sho…
There are many scenarios in which inferring the type of a client browser is desirable, for instance to fight against session stealing. This is known as browser fingerprinting. This paper presents and evaluates a novel fingerprinting technique to determine the exact nature (browser type and version, eg Firefox 15) of a web-browser, exploiting HTML parser quirks exercised through XSS. Our experiments show that the exact version of a web browser can be determined with 71% of accuracy, and that only 6 tests are sufficient to quickly determine the exact family a web browser belongs to.
Browser fingerprinting consists into collecting attributes from a web browser. Hundreds of attributes have been discovered through the years. Each one of them provides a way to distinguish browsers, but also comes with a usability cost (e.g., additional collection time). In this work, we propose FPSelect, an attribute selection framework allowing verifiers to tune their browser fingerprinting probes for web authentication. We formalize the problem as searching for the attribute set that satisfies a security requirement and minimizes the usability cost. The security is measured as the proportio…
Browser fingerprinting is a stateless tracking technique that attempts to combine information exposed by multiple different web APIs to create a unique identifier for tracking users across the web. Over the last decade, trackers have abused several existing and newly proposed web APIs to further enhance the browser fingerprint. Existing approaches are limited to detecting a specific fingerprinting technique(s) at a particular point in time. Thus, they are unable to systematically detect novel fingerprinting techniques that abuse different web APIs. In this paper, we propose FP-Radar, a machine…
Browser fingerprinting is a stateless identification technique based on browser properties. Together, they form an identifier that can be collected without users' notice and has been studied to be unique and stable. As this technique relies on browser properties that serve legitimate purposes, the detection of this technique is challenging. While several studies propose classification techniques, none of these are publicly available, making them difficult to reproduce. This paper proposes a new browser fingerprinting detection technique. Based on an incremental process, it relies on both autom…
In this demonstration, we put ourselves in the place of a website manager who seeks to use browser fingerprinting for web authentication. The first step is to choose the attributes to implement among the hundreds that are available. To do so, we developed BrFAST, an attribute selection platform that includes FPSelect, an algorithm that rigorously selects the attributes according to a trade-off between security and usability. BrFAST is configured with a set of parameters for which we provide values for BrFAST to be usable as is. We notably include the resources to use two publicly available bro…
Numerous studies demonstrated that browser fingerprinting is detrimental to users' security and privacy. However, little is known about the effects of browser fingerprinting on Android hybrid apps -- where a stripped-down Chromium browser is integrated into an app. These apps expand the attack surface by employing two-way communication between native apps and the web. This paper studies the impact of browser fingerprinting on these embedded browsers. To this end, we instrument the Android framework to record and extract information leveraged for fingerprinting. We study over 20,000 apps, inclu…
Biometric authentication is getting increasingly popular due to the convenience of using unique individual traits, such as fingerprints, palm veins, irises. Especially fingerprints are widely used nowadays due to the availability and low cost of fingerprint scanners. To avoid identity theft or impersonation, fingerprint data is typically stored locally, e.g., in a trusted hardware module, in a single device that is used for user enrollment and authentication. Local storage, however, limits the ability to implement distributed applications, in which users can enroll their fingerprint once and u…
Fingerprint authentication techniques have been employed in various Internet of Things (IoT) applications for access control to protect private data, but raw fingerprint template leakage in unprotected IoT applications may render the authentication system insecure. Cancelable fingerprint templates can effectively prevent privacy breaches and provide strong protection to the original templates. However, to suit resource-constrained IoT devices, oversimplified templates would compromise authentication performance significantly. In addition, the length of existing cancelable fingerprint templates…
With the rapid advancement in technology, smart homes have become applicable and so the need arise to solve the security challenges that are accompanied with its operation. Passwords and identity cards have been used as traditional authentication mechanisms in home environments, however, the rise of misuse of these mechanisms are proving them to be less reliable. For instance, ID cards can be misplaced, copied or counterfeited and being misused. Conversely, studies have shown that biometrics authentication systems particularly Iris Recognition Technology (IRT) and Fingerprint Recognition Techn…
On a General Theoretical Framework for Radio Frequency Fingerprint-Based Authentication
School of Computer Science & Technology, Xidian University（西安电子科技大学计算机科学与技术学院）；Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Network and System Security（陕西省网络与系统安全重点实验室）；College of Cybersecurity, Tarim University（塔里姆大学网络安全学院）；School of Systems Information Science, Future University Hakodate（函馆未来大学系统情报学系）
Prior measurement studies on browser fingerprinting have unfortunately largely excluded Web Audio API-based fingerprinting in their analysis. We address this issue by conducting the first systematic study of effectiveness of web audio fingerprinting mechanisms. We focus on studying the feasibility and diversity properties of web audio fingerprinting. Along with 3 known audio fingerprinting vectors, we designed and implemented 4 new audio fingerprint vectors that work by obtaining FFTs of waveforms generated via different methods. Our study analyzed audio fingerprints from 2093 web users and pr…
Radio frequency (RF) fingerprinting is a tool which allows for authentication by utilizing distinct and random distortions in a received signal based on characteristics of the transmitter. We introduce a deep learning-based authentication method for a novel RF fingerprinting system called Physically Unclonable Wireless Systems (PUWS). An element of PUWS is based on the concept of Chaotic Antenna Arrays (CAAs) that can be cost effectively manufactured by utilizing mask-free laser-enhanced direct print additive manufacturing (LE-DPAM). In our experiments, using simulation data of 300 CAAs each e…
We examine WebRTC's suitability as a means of Internet censorship circumvention. WebRTC is a framework and suite of protocols for peer-to-peer communication between web browsers. We analyze the implementation differences in instantiations of WebRTC that make it possible to "fingerprint" implementations--potentially distinguishing circumvention-related uses from ordinary ones. This question is relevant to Snowflake, an upcoming circumvention system that uses WebRTC to turn web browsers into temporary peer-to-peer proxies. We conduct a manual analysis of WebRTC-using applications in order to map…
In this emerging data-driven world, secure and ubiquitous authentication mechanisms are necessary prior to any confidential information delivery. Biometric authentication has been widely adopted as it provides a unique and non-transferable solution for user authentication. In this article, the authors envision the need for an in-field, remote and on-demand authentication system for a highly mobile and tactical environment, such as critical information delivery to soldiers in a battlefield. Fingerprint-based in-field biometric authentication combined with the conventional password-based techniq…
Biometrics deals with identity verification of an individual by using certain physiological or behavioral features associated with a person. Biometric identification systems using fingerprints patterns are called AFIS (Automatic Fingerprint Identification System). In this paper a composite method for Fingerprint recognition is considered using a combination of Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and Sobel Filters for improvement of a poor quality fingerprint image. Steganography hides messages inside other messages in such a way that an "adversary" would not even know a secret message were present. T…
University of Washington（华盛顿大学）；Northeastern University（东北大学）
In this paper, we provide an overview of fingerprint sensing methods used for authentication. We analyze the current fingerprint sensing technologies, from algorithmic, as well as from hardware perspectives. We then focus on methods to detect physical liveness, defined as techniques that can be used to ensure that a living human user is attempting to authenticate on a system. We analyze how effective these methods are at preventing attacks where a malicious entity tries to trick a fingerprint-based authentication system to accept a fake finger as a real one (spoofing attacks). We then identify…
Physical layer authentication relies on detecting unique imperfections in signals transmitted by radio devices to isolate their fingerprint. Recently, deep learning-based authenticators have increasingly been proposed to classify devices using these fingerprints, as they achieve higher accuracies compared to traditional approaches. However, it has been shown in other domains that adding carefully crafted perturbations to legitimate inputs can fool such classifiers. This can undermine the security provided by the authenticator. Unlike adversarial attacks applied in other domains, an adversary h…
This paper proposes an architecture to enable Web service providers to interact with personal services. Personal services are vanilla HTTP services that are invoked from a browser, upon a request made by a service Provider, to deliver some service on the client side, i.e., on an execution environment defined by the browser's user. Personal services can be used both to handle content manipulation and presentation or to deliver request-response interactions with different goals (e.g. user authentication). Unlike plugins, that are described to service providers on each and every HTTP request, per…
Especially in context of critical urban infrastructures, trust in IoT data is of utmost importance. While most technology stacks provide means for authentication and encryption of device-to-cloud traffic, there are currently no mechanisms to rule out physical tampering with an IoT device's sensors. Addressing this gap, we introduce a new method for extracting a hardware fingerprint of an IoT sensor which can be used for secret-free authentication. By comparing the fingerprint against reference measurements recorded prior to deployment, we can tell whether the sensing hardware connected to the …
Single sign-on (SSO) systems, such as OpenID and OAuth, allow web sites, so-called relying parties (RPs), to delegate user authentication to identity providers (IdPs), such as Facebook or Google. These systems are very popular, as they provide a convenient means for users to log in at RPs and move much of the burden of user authentication from RPs to IdPs. There is, however, a downside to current systems, as they do not respect users' privacy: IdPs learn at which RP a user logs in. With one exception, namely Mozilla's BrowserID system (a.k.a. Mozilla Persona), current SSO systems were not even…
The wireless medium contains domain-specific information that can be used to complement and enhance traditional security mechanisms. In this paper we propose ways to exploit the fact that, in a typically rich scattering environment, the radio channel response decorrelates quite rapidly in space. Specifically, we describe a physical-layer algorithm that combines channel probing (M complex frequency response samples over a bandwidth W) with hypothesis testing to determine whether current and prior communication attempts are made by the same user (same channel response). In this way, legitimate u…
We introduce the first known mechanism providing realtime server location verification. Its uses include enhancing server authentication (e.g., augmenting TLS) by enabling browsers to automatically interpret server location information. We describe the design of this new measurement-based technique, Server Location Verification (SLV), and evaluate it using PlanetLab. We explain how SLV is compatible with the increasing trends of geographically distributed content dissemination over the Internet, without causing any new interoperability conflicts. Additionally, we introduce the notion of (verif…
The emerging threats to user privacy over the internet are increasing at an alarming rate. Signing in from an unreliable terminal into a web account may result in compromising private details of a user such as username and password, by means of keylogger software. Such software are capable of recording keystrokes secretly, via covert channels without the knowledge of the user. In this paper we propose a secure method for signing in using Quick Response (QR) codes with mobile authentication. Through this method, the user can securely sign-in into a web account by authenticating the user session…
We devised a mobile biometric-based authentication system only relying on local processing. Our Android open source solution explores the capability of current smartphones to acquire, process and match fingerprints using only its built-in hardware. Our architecture is specifically designed to run completely locally and autonomously, not requiring any cloud service, server, or permissioned access to fingerprint reader hardware. It involves three main stages, starting with the fingerprint acquisition using the smartphone camera, followed by a processing pipeline to obtain minutiae features and a…
This document presents brief software specification of a secure file exchange system prototype involving mutual authentication of the users via their browser and the application server with PKI-based certificates as credentials, the use of LDAP for credential management, and authentication between the application and database servers to maintain a high level of trust between all parties.
Secure Shell (SSH) protocol requires all implementations to support public key authentication method ("publickey") for authentication purposes, so web applications which provide a SSH client over the web browser need to support "publickey". However, restrictions in Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), such as same origin policy, and limited access to local resources, make it difficult to perform such authentications. In this document, a system to perform "publickey" authentication over HTTP is provided. It is ensured that no compromise is made that would pose a security risk to SSH protocol.
Radio Frequency fingerprints (RFF) authentication is one of the methods for the physical-layer information security, which uses the hardware characteristics of the transmitter to identify its real identity. In order to improve the performance of RFF based on preamble with fixed duration, a nonlinear RFF authentication method based on payload symbols is proposed for the wireless OFDM devices with the bit mapping scheme of QPSK. The communication system is modeled as a Hammerstein system containing the nonlinear transmitter and wireless multipath fading channel. A parameter separation technique …
We demonstrate how the multitude of sensors on a smartphone can be used to construct a reliable hardware fingerprint of the phone. Such a fingerprint can be used to de-anonymize mobile devices as they connect to web sites, and as a second factor in identifying legitimate users to a remote server. We present two implementations: one based on analyzing the frequency response of the speakerphone-microphone system, and another based on analyzing device-specific accelerometer calibration errors. Our accelerometer-based fingerprint is especially interesting because the accelerometer is accessible vi…
Many password alternatives for web authentication proposed over the years, despite having different designs and objectives, all predominantly rely on the knowledge of some secret. This motivates us, herein, to provide the first detailed exploration of the integration of a fundamentally different element of defense into the design of web authentication schemes: a mimicry-resistance dimension. We analyze web authentication mechanisms with respect to new usability and security properties related to mimicry-resistance (augmenting the UDS framework), and in particular evaluate invisible techniques …
We propose an enhanced version of the Authentication with Built-in Camera (ABC) protocol by employing a deep learning solution based on built-in motion sensors. The standard ABC protocol identifies mobile devices based on the photo-response non-uniformity (PRNU) of the camera sensor, while also considering QR-code-based meta-information. During authentication, the user is required to take two photos that contain two QR codes presented on a screen. The presented QR code images also contain a unique probe signal, similar to a camera fingerprint, generated by the protocol. During verification, th…
