Lightweight Version of SQRL Authentication Protocol Based on Cryptography in the Cloud

The most used authentication method is based on usernames and passwords. But this is also one of the weakest. As the two values are static, anyone who finds them can impersonate the authentic user. Over the years several new authentications principles have been proposed, such as two factor authentication based on One Time Passwords, but they have failed to gain a broad acceptance. A special kind of propositions are the authentication protocols using QR codes, from which SQRL is the most famous. From the point of view of authentication this protocol accomplishes its goals, allowing the user to authenticate to any system implementing the scheme without physical interaction except with the users smart phone which is a trustworthy device. But implementing the protocol is not exactly easy. This paper proposes a new version of SQRL that uses cloud cryptography for the needed cryptographic operations thus providing a simple and natural answer to all the hard question raised by practical implementations and without eliminating any advantages of the oriainal protocol.