The document discusses the optimization and simplification of authentication and authorization services in the context of Telefónica Czech Republic's mobile and fixed operations. It highlights the use of SIM card-based identification and technical solutions for various platforms, including internal servers and smartphone applications, as well as the potential risks in mobile content payments due to the involvement of third parties. Ultimately, it concludes that mobile operators are well-positioned to ensure reliable user identification and multifactor authentication in a modern web environment.

1. Optimising and simplifying
authentication and
authorization services_
Martin Prošek
Telefónica Czech Republic
06.11.2013

2. About Telefónica Czech Republic
Fixed and mobile voice and data, IPTV
Operated under commercial brand O2
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3. Mobile Operator Identification Security
•
SIM card – secure asset giving access to the
network, protected by PIN
•
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No further interactions

4. SIM-based Identification
•
Simple, convenient
•
Fully sufficient for telco payments (voice, SMS,
data…)
•
Fails in cases when
Phone is stolen
Phone is borrowed
Data access is shared by WiFi
Corporate users
•
•
•
•
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5. Technical Solution – Internal Server
AAA
AAA
Server
Server
IP address
MSISDN resolving
Authorization
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6. Technical Solution – Internal + External Server
Typical example: WAP
Gateway
Gateway
AAA
AAA
Server
Server
IP address
MSISDN resolving
Header enrichment
X-Nokia-msisdn: 420602607977
Authorization
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7. Technical Solution – Internal + External Server
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: m.o2.cz
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.3; Series60/3.2 NokiaE72-1/031.023;
Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 ) AppleWebKit/525 (KHTML, like Gecko)
Version/3.0 4 BrowserNG/7.2.3.1
x-wap-profile: "http://nds1.nds.nokia.com/uaprof/NE72-1r100.xml"
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8
Accept-Language: en,cs;q=0.5
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age=0
X-Nokia-msisdn: 420602607977
HTTP/1.0 200 OK
Server: Apache-Coyote/1.1, Apache-Coyote/1.1
Cache-Control: no-cache
x-cocoon-version: 2.0.3
Expires: Fri, 31 Dec 1999 23:59:59 GMT
Date: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 07:19:46 GMT
Vary: Accept-Encoding
Pragma: no-cache
Content-Type: text/html;charset=UTF-8
Content-Encoding: gzip
X-Cache: MISS from proxy1, MISS from Proxy1R
Connection: close
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8. Technical Solution – Smartphone Application
API
API
AAA
AAA
IP address
MSISDN resolving
420602607977
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9. Technical Solution – WiFi
•
•
•
•
MSISDN - if operator‘s WLAN used
Login by username password – otherwise
MT SMS One-Time Password
Tricks – cookies, certificates
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10. Technical Solution – WiFi with MT SMS OTP
SMSC
SMSC
API
API
Server
Server
MSISDN
OTP
OTP
MT SMS
OTP
Authorization
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11. Technical Solution – App on WiFi with MO SMS
App
App
Operator
Operator
Server
Server
Token
SMS with Token
Authorization
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12. Mobile Content Payments
•
•
•
Natural extension of payments for telco services
Mobile Payments with 3rd parties are next step
Issues:
Authentication not only for operator – mechant
is included
Intangible goods
•
•
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13. Mobile Content Payments Risks
•
Communication is not direct anymore
Operator
Operator
•
Man-in-the-middle (M-I-M) attacks are possible
Provider
Provider
•
Even the app itself can compromise the payment
security – App-in-the-middle (A-I-M)*
App
App
•
Operator
Operator
Provider
Provider
Operator
Operator
* Known examples: fraudulent Premium SMS sending…
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14. Mobile Content Payments Risks
Typical example: oAuth
App
App
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Operator
Operator
Server
Server

15. Summary
Mobile operators are still in
best position to assure
reliable identification of
Users.
NETWORK BASED IDENTIFICATION
Using SIM card
Using other data (location, terminal
information…)
PASSWORD BASED IDENTIFICATION
It creates reliable multifactor authentication
IDENTITY FEDERATION
Evolves from walled garden to modern web
environment
15
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