Enhanced bitcoin with two-factor authentication
Publication Name
International Journal of Information and Computer Security
Abstract
Bitcoin transactions rely on digital signatures to prove the ownership of bitcoin. The private signing key of the bitcoin owner is the key component to enable a bitcoin transaction. If the signing key of a bitcoin is stolen, the thief who possesses the key can make a transaction of the bitcoin. In this paper, based on the distance-based encryption (DBE), we propose an enhanced version of bitcoin in order to protect the signing key. Our approach is based on our two-factor authentication, where the signing key cannot be retrieved without being identified via the password and biometric authentication scheme, and the user is only required to enter his password and fingerprint (or other biometric information such as a factual image) to retrieve the key. By doing this, we can effectively improve the bitcoin security and provide stronger authentication. An attractive feature of our scheme is that one of encryption schemes is asymmetric, in the sense that the decryption key (biometric information) is not stored in the device. We also provide the security model and proof to justify the security of our scheme.
Open Access Status
This publication is not available as open access
Volume
16
Issue
3-4
First Page
292
Last Page
306
Funding Number
61100165
Funding Sponsor
National Natural Science Foundation of China