Identity/AttachedServices/Architecture: Difference between revisions
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== Data Security == | == Data Security == | ||
We are exploring various models for data security: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Identity/CryptoIdeas/03-ID-Attached-Data | |||
The bottom-line is that, for some data-types, we will want to derive an encryption key from the user's only secret – her password. This reinforces the need for a flow where the client captures the user's password and uses it both to: | |||
* engage in a secure authentication protocol with the IdP, and | |||
* derive a reasonable encryption key for the data stored with PICL services. | |||
== Service Interface == | == Service Interface == | ||
Revision as of 00:26, 26 March 2013
Overview
Profile In The Cloud (PICL) is a mechanism for attaching services to the browser with built-in authentication. Ideally, a user "logs into their browser", which automatically applies all customizations and re-attaches all relevant services. Possible PICL services include: bookmarks/history/tabs/passwords backup/syncing, social API preferences, sharing providers, WebRTC bridge provider, file-storage service, etc.
Authentication
Authentication to PICL Services is done via Persona. This means that a browser needs to be natively logged into Persona, so that it can generate the Persona assertions it needs to connect to individual services without user intervention every time the browser reconnects to an existing service. Specifically, if a PICL service runs at https://bookmarks.example.com, the browser gets an assertion for that audience, without prompting the user every time it needs one.
The flow for logging into the browser is more user-agent centric than the typica Persona signin-to-web flow. Redirecting to an IdP is too jarring. Thus, even if we allow different IdPs, the login UI must be consistent and feel like it's part of the browser.
These requirements (and the next Data Security section) call for a design where the browser locally captures the user's email and password, then engages in a protocol with the IdP – persona.org or otherwise – to obtain a certificate. One way to implement this immediately is to embed the invisible persona.org communication IFRAME and call into its internal API, which we recently augmented to include login() and accountExists() calls to support this implementation path.
Data Security
We are exploring various models for data security: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Identity/CryptoIdeas/03-ID-Attached-Data
The bottom-line is that, for some data-types, we will want to derive an encryption key from the user's only secret – her password. This reinforces the need for a flow where the client captures the user's password and uses it both to:
- engage in a secure authentication protocol with the IdP, and
- derive a reasonable encryption key for the data stored with PICL services.