Abstract
This study proposes a new and secure scheme for remote mutual authentication without using the smart cards. The scheme may satisfy all of the essential security requirements. In the last couple of decades the Internet technology has advanced so rapidly. It leads to the spreading and penetration of the technology to the network services and applications. Remote user authentication is a very effective means to check the legality of a user. Among many schemes, password authentication has been commonly used. Also in many schemes proposed for the remote user authentication, smart card has been intensively used to store the secret information for authentication. However, the smart card and its reader are not always available everywhere and in anytime. With this scheme, the user can login to the remote server from anywhere and in anytime to access the secure service. This may be more practical and easy-to-use. © 2009 Asian Network for Scientific Information.