Preliminary report on a theory of authentication
The purpose of authentication - or literally the fingerprinting - of digital messages is to make it possible to establish that a message originated with the purported transmitter and that it was not altered during transit. Perhaps the easiest way to understand authentication is to observe that the theories of authentication and of error detecting codes are mathematical duals. In both instances redundant information (to the data being communicated) is introduced by the transmitter and interpreted by the receiver to accomplish the desired function. The duality arises from the way in which the redundant information is used, in the one instance to impose as much structure as possible on the acceptable messages (codes) and in the other to conceal as much of the structure of the messages as possible (authenticators).
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 6220981
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-81-1007C; CONF-811024-1; ON: DE81025838
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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