SRP, the Zero-Knowledge authentication protocol, told as a tale
summary
This talk explains the Secure Remote Password (SRP) protocol, a password-authentication system based on zero-knowledge proofs. It covers SRP’s purpose (letting users authenticate without ever sending their password), its origin and standardization (Tom Wu, RFC 2945), and real-world use (e.g., ProtonMail), presented as an accessible, story-style introduction to encourage developer adoption.
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chapters (12)
- 0:00Start
- 4:04Internet
- 8:13Password-based authentication
- 12:22Woman-in-the-Middle attack (WITM)
- 14:27Man-in-the-Middle attack (MITM)
- 17:11Compromised database attack
- 19:07Using one-way hash functions
- 24:00Using salt to harden rainbow table attacks
- 24:26Combining hash functions and salt
- 25:53Trust problem
- 35:06SRP — authentication session key
- 44:30SRP Limitations
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