Using EMV Cards for Single Sign-On

At present, network users have to manage a set of authentication credentials (usually a username/password pair) for every service with which they are registered. Single Sign-On (SSO) has been proposed as a solution to the usability, security and management implications of this situation. Under SSO, users authenticate themselves only once to an entity termed the ‘Authentication Service Provider’ (ASP) and are subsequently logged into disparate network Service Providers (SPs) without necessarily having to re-authenticate. The information about the user’s authentication status is handled between the ASP and the desired SP in a manner transparent to the user. In this paper we propose an SSO scheme where user authentication is based on payment cards conforming to the EMV industry standard. The card itself, in conjunction with the EMV architecture, takes the role of the ASP. The associated SSO protocol does not require online card issuer participation, preserves user mobility and does not put user’s financial data at risk.