Future of Cloud-Based Services for Multi-factor Authentication: Results of a Delphi Study - Cloud Computing - page 134

Future of Cloud-Based Services for Multi-factor
Authentication: Results of a Delphi Study

Christian Senk

University of Regensburg
Department of Management Information Systems
93053 Regensburg, Germany
[e-mail]

Abstract. The Cloud Computing model potentially leverages the dif-
fusion of strong multi-factor authentication systems. In order to sys-
tematically evaluate the future of cloud-based services for multi-factor
authentication, a 3-rounded Delphi survey with experts in the German-
speaking area was conducted. Results indicate the substantially increas-
ing importance of such services in both organizational and user-centric
application fields. Furthermore, seven primary success factors have been
identified. Most critical are factors regarding the ease of adoption as well
as security- and compliance-related issues.

Keywords: Authentication, Delphi Study, Cloud Computing.

1 Introduction

While for many use cases basic password-based user authentication is considered
to become too insecure, there are substantial barriers regarding the adoption of
strong(er) multi-factor authentication systems. Here, on the one hand side, the
Cloud Computing model opens up opportunities to lower related barriers and
to drive the adoption; on the other hand side, inherent risks might significantly
restrict the applicability of related systems. In this context, we investigate fol-
lowing research questions (RQ) to assess the future application of such systems:

-RQ1: How will the practical relevance of cloud-based services for multi-
factor authentication develop and which authentication methods will prevail?
-RQ2: Which are relevant practical application fields for such systems?
-RQ3: Which requirements are critical for the diffusion of such systems (re-
ferred to as success drivers ) and should thus be reflected by service providers?

Since for this purpose no comprehensive data is available, an expert survey is
conducted applying the Delphi method. The remainder of this paper is struc-
tured as follows: Section 2 explains the theoretical background and related work.
Section 3 lays out the research design including the applied method as well as
the justification of its application. The findings are set forth and discussed in
section 4. Section 5 finally summarizes this paper and directs future research.