Security Infrastructure

Overview

Our cloud services are secured using a novel method of authentication based on zero-knowledge proofs . This approach allows us to introduce passwordless client authentication with improved security and user experience.

Compared to traditional security methods that store users' credentials on the server, our approach relies on a one-time client/server negotiation without storing any user secrets on our servers. All secrets are stored with the user client and are entirely in their control. During authentication, users present proof of knowledge of these secret tokens, instead of the actual tokens. This proof is generated with each request and is unique for that request only.

Zero-knowledge Architecture

TODO: Comparison to traditional security models

Oberon Auth Scheme

A succinct ZKP protocol for authentication. It works by using techniques similar to Identity-Based/Attribute-Based signatures.

Oberon allows endpoints to issue multi-factor capable tokens to consumers who can prove their validity without disclosing the tokens themselves and without requiring email, SMS, or authenticator apps. Endpoints only need to store a single public key and not any tokens. An attacker that breaks into the server doesn't have any password/token files to steal and only would see a public key. The proof of token validity is only 256 bytes while the token itself is only 48 bytes. The issuing party and verifying servers can be separate entities.

Crypto details for Oberon

Account Registration

The below diagram illustrates how client and server interact during the registration process and negotiate the data for authentication:

sequenceDiagram
  actor Client
  Client->>Server: Register new account or ecosystem
  Server-->>Client: Generated token
  Note right of Server: Does not store token
  opt
    Note over Client: Apply multi-factor security<br />using PIN, word phrase, HSM, etc.<br />by cryptographically blinding<br/>the secret token
    Client->>Client: Token protection
  end
  Client->>Client: Save token on client device

API Requests

The process of making authenticated API requests against the server involves generating a proof of knowledge and appending it to the request headers. This proof is:

• valid for a limited time only (order of milliseconds)
• unique and cannot be used twice (replay protection)
• bound to the current request payload (mitm protection)

The diagram below illustrates the steps involved in generating proof and interacting with the server.

sequenceDiagram
    actor U as Client
    participant A as Server

    U->>U: Read Token
    U->>U: Generate proof of token
    U->>A: Make API Request
    note right of U: Proof is added in 'Authorization' header

    A->>A: Check authorization

    alt sucesss
        A->>A: Process request
        A-->>U: Send response
    else invalid proof
        A-->>U: 401 Unauthorized
    end