Mutual authentication

Mutual authentication or two-way authentication (not to be confused with <a href="/facts/Multi-factor_authentication/186gpx8R">two-factor authentication</a>) refers to two parties <a href="/facts/Authenticating/64y4S69b">authenticating</a> each other at the same time in an <a href="/facts/Authentication_protocol/pcX97lnA">authentication protocol</a>. It is a default mode of authentication in some protocols (<a href="/facts/Internet_Key_Exchange/QBvx8mgk">IKE</a>, <a href="/facts/Secure_Shell/wjVRw5zv">SSH</a>) and optional in others (<a href="/facts/Transport_Layer_Security/pGy16TnA">TLS</a>).
Mutual authentication is a desired characteristic in verification schemes that transmit sensitive data, in order to ensure <a href="/facts/Data_security/VApktKQD">data security</a>. Mutual authentication can be accomplished with two types of credentials: usernames and <a href="/facts/Password/WEoul230">passwords</a>, and <a href="/facts/Public_key_certificate/J7aYI4Bx">public key certificates</a>.
Mutual authentication is often employed in the <a href="/facts/Internet_of_things/rwwGAxn3">Internet of Things</a> (IoT). Writing effective security schemes in IoT systems is challenging, especially when schemes are desired to be lightweight and have low computational costs. Mutual authentication is a crucial security step that can defend against many adversarial attacks, which otherwise can have large consequences if IoT systems (such as e-Healthcare servers) are hacked. In scheme analyses done of past works, a lack of mutual authentication had been considered a weakness in data transmission schemes.

Mutual authentication open-in-new

Mutual authentication