[cap-talk] Definition of Authentication on wiki.erights.org

[Karp, Alan H]

Matej Kosik wrote:
> 
> For me, the term "authentication" was mostly empty so I was willing to
> fill it with something useful. David-Sarah's definition, now stated
> here:
> 
> http://wiki.erights.org/wiki/Authentication
>
I think it would be more precise to say 

"Given one end of a transmission channel, an authentication procedure establishes whose credentials were presented at the other end."

Without being physically present, there is no way to know which person is using the credentials.  That's one reason I'm careful to distinguish identification from authentication.

The bigger problem I have with this definition is that it does not conform to the meaning the wider community uses.  That's what got me in trouble with the US DoD.  What do you think of the following?

"Authentication is the validation of a specific property of an object, subject, or principal.

Examples: Role, e.g., Manager; Attributes, e.g., citizenship; Integrity; Identity

Because of its unique importance, we use the term 'subject/principal authentication' to distinguish the last of these from other uses."

________________________
Alan Karp
Principal Scientist
Virus Safe Computing Initiative
Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
1501 Page Mill Road
Palo Alto, CA 94304
(650) 857-3967, fax (650) 857-7029
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Alan_Karp