Security and Usability of Authentication Methods in Web2 and Web3

This thesis is aimed at investigating the evolving landscape of authentication methods, examining their security, usability, and suitability for both traditional web2 and the emerging web3 ecosystem.

Web2 Methods:

The thesis critically analyzes the security vulnerabilities and usability limitations of conventional methods like passwords, OTPs (One-Time Passwords), and social logins. It delves into the advancements offered by passkeys, FIDO (Fast Identity Online) standards, and protocols like OAuth and OpenID Connect, evaluating their strengths in enhancing user experience and mitigating security risks.

Web3 Methods:

The research explores the unique challenges and opportunities presented by the decentralized nature of web3. It investigates innovative authentication mechanisms such as:

• ERC 4337: Analyzing its potential to improve user experience and address the limitations of current account abstraction solutions.
• Threshold Signature Schemes: Examining their role in enhancing security and enabling secure key management in decentralized environments.
• Shamir Secret Sharing: Evaluating its applicability for secure key distribution and recovery in web3 applications.
• Multi-Party Computation: Investigating its potential for privacy-preserving authentication protocols in decentralized systems.
• Smart Contract-Based Wallets: Analyzing the security implications and usability considerations of different smart contract wallet designs.
• OTPs for Smart Contract Wallets: Exploring the feasibility and security of integrating traditional OTP mechanisms with smart contract wallets.
• Multi-Factor Key Derivation Functions: Investigating their suitability for enhancing the security and usability of authentication in web3 environments.

The thesis should conduct a comparative analysis of web2 and web3 authentication methods, highlighting their respective strengths and weaknesses in terms of security, usability, privacy, and decentralization. In particular, embedded cryptocurrency wallets is a trending topic that is focused on the usability of web3 wallets. The thesis should design new approaches or improve the existing ones.