an improved smart card based password authentication scheme with provable security

Password authentication has been adopted as one of the most commonly used solutions in network environment to protect resources from unauthorized access. Recently, Lee–Kim–Yoo [S.W. Lee, H.S. Kim, K.Y. Yoo, Improvement of Chien et al.'s remote user authentication scheme using smart cards, Computer Standards & Interfaces 27 (2) (2005) 181–183] and Lee-Chiu [N.Y. Lee, Y.C. Chiu, Improved remote authentication scheme with smart card, Computer Standards & Interfaces 27 (2) (2005) 177–180] respectively proposed a smart card based password authentication scheme. We show that these two schemes are both subject to forgery attacks provided that the information stored in the smart card is disclosed by the adversary. We also propose an improved scheme with formal security proof.

Post card to George Whitaker 06/27/1881

Postal card to George Whitaker. Mailed from Ocean Grove, NJ. Dated June 27, 1881.

The suppression of q card selections: Evidence for deductive inference in Wason's Selection Task

The results of three experiments investigating the role of deductive inference in Wason's selection task are reported. In Experiment 1, participants received either a standard one-rule problem or a task containing a second rule, which specified an alternative antecedent. Both groups of participants were asked to select those cards that they considered were necessary to test whether the rule common to both problems was true or false. The results showed a significant suppression of q card selections in the two-rule condition. In addition there was weak evidence for both decreased p selection and increased not-q selection. In Experiment 2 we again manipulated number of rules and found suppression of q card selections only. Finally, in Experiment 3 we compared one- and two-rule conditions with a two-rule condition where the second rule specified two alternative antecedents in the form of a disjunction. The q card selections were suppressed in both of the two-rule conditions but there was no effect of whether the second rule contained one or two alternative antecedents. We argue that our results support the claim that people make inferences about the unseen side of the cards when engaging with the indicative selection task.

Evaluation of the VITEK 2 AST N-054 test card for the detection of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase production in Escherichia coli with CTX-M phenotypes

A new VITEK 2 antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) card, AST N-054, was introduced for aerobic gram-negative bacilli in 2007 and has been widely adopted for routine use in the UK. We evaluated its performance for detecting extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) production in Escherichia coli.