Proposal for optical one-time password authentication using digital holography

Abstract

A new optical one-time password (OTP) authentication method using digital holography is proposed, which enhances security strength in the authentication system. A challenge-response optical OTP algorithm based on two-factor authentication is presented using two-step phase-shifting digital holography, and two-way authentication is also performed using challenge-response handshake in both directions. Identification (ID), password (PW), and OTP are encrypted with a shared key by applying phase-shifting digital holography, and these encrypted pieces of information are verified by each party by means of the shared key. The encrypted digital holograms are obtained by Fourier-transform holography and are recorded on a CCD with 256 quantized gray-level intensities. Because the intensity pattern of such an encrypted digital hologram is distributed randomly, it guards against a replay attack and results in higher security level. The proposed method has advantages, in that it does not require a time-synchronized OTP, and can be applied to various authentication applications. Computer experiments show that the proposed method is feasible for high-security OTP authentication.