Abstract. This paper focus on two security services for internet applications: authorization and anonymity. Traditional authorization solutions are not very helpful for many of the Internet applications; however, attribute certificates proposed by ITU-T seems to be well suited and provide adequate solution. On the other hand, special attention is paid to the fact that many of the operations and transactions that are part of Internet applications can be easily recorded and collected. Consequently, anonymity has become a desirable feature to be added in many cases. In this work we propose a solution to enhance the X.509 attribute certificate in such a way that it becomes a conditionally anonymous attribute certificate. Moreover, we present a protocol to obtain such certificates in a way that respects users' anonymity by using a fair blind signature scheme. We also show how to use such certificates and describe a few cases where problems could arise, identifying some open problems.
PurposeTo provide a cryptographic protocol for anonymously accessing services offered on the web. Such anonymous accesses can be disclosed or traced under certain conditions.Design/methodology/approachThe “traceable signature” scheme was used in conjunction with the “privilege management infrastructure”.FindingsThe cryptographic primitive provides a suitable tool for anonymous and unlinkable access to web resources based on the privileges that users hold. Moreover, the scheme allows for anonymity revocation and tracing of unlinkable accesses.Research limitations/implicationsThe power of the attribute authority should be divided into several entities, one of them being a trusted third party, to avoid illicit disclosing of information.Practical implicationsNew systems with support for anonymous access to web resources can be developed.Originality/valueThis paper adds the unlinkability property to anonymous accesses together with a tracing facility to existing proposals.
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