Security Usability of Petname Systems

To have certainty about identities is crucial for secure communication in digital environments. The number of digital identities that people and organizations need to manage is rapidly increasing, and proper management of these identities is essential for maintaining security in online markets and communities. Traditional Identity Management Systems are designed to facilitate the management of identities from the perspective of the service provider, but provide little support on the user side. The difficulty of managing identities on the user side causes vulnerabilities that open up for serious attacks such as identity theft and Phishing. Petname Systems have been proposed to provide more user friendly and secure identity management on the user side. This paper provides an analysis of the Petname Model by describing its history and background, properties, application domains and usability issues with emphasis on Security Usability. By covering a broad set of aspects, this paper is intended to provide a comprehensive reference for the Petname System.