The main goal of ReCRED is to unify under the mobile personal devices the authentication and authorization mechanisms that provide access control for online services.

In layman terms, RECRED aims at obviating the need for a user to remember many hard to guess passwords so that he can access his Google, Facebook or work accounts.

Instead, ReCRED will produce software solutions that enable the user to login to his mobile device in a usable and secure way (e.g., with a short PIN or through biometric authentication such as fingerprint scanning). Subsequently, the mobile device becomes a secure authentication gateway to online services employing state of the art cryptographic protocols for access control. Besides increased security, this approach has the additional advantage of providing user-friendly attribute-based access control, i.e., a user can prove parts of his identity, such as his age, without sacrificing his anonymity.

At the same time, ReCRED will add safeguards on the device which will continuously validate through behavioral biometrics (e.g., by analyzing the user’s walk patterns) that the rightful owner of the device still has the device in his possession and this has not been stolen. In case the device is lost, the user will have the ability to restore his cryptographic credentials on a new device.

The project is a collaboration between global telecommunication companies Telefonica and Verizon, the Romanian security solutions provider certSIGN, the mobile solutions provider UPCOM, the Web applications company WEDIA, the EXUS debt and origination solution provider, the Baker and Mckenzie law firm and the universities: CUT, UC3M, Roma Tor Vergata, and UPRC.

The ultimate goal of the project is to assess and validate the aforementioned technologies with end-users and to have them adopted as commercial products by the involved companies. ReCRED is a prime example of applied research in the computer security systems with excellent prospects for high technological and societal impact

The research fellow must hold a PhD in Computer Science. He will be called upon to acquire expertise in Networked Systems, Security, Large Scale Data Processing, Cryptography, Identity Management and Mobile Computing. The successful applicants should be able to demonstrate postdoctoral knowledge of Networking and Computer Security concepts as well as outstanding software implementation skills.

ReCRED: From Real-world Identities to Privacy-Preserving and Attribute-based CREDentials for Device-centric Access Control. H2020 Digital Security-Access Control.
Total project funding: 4997K Euro. Funding for CUT: 525K Euro.

You can find more information for the ReCRED research project here.