# nKode Authentication Over Unencrypted Channel in Low-Bandwidth Environments ## Low-Bandwidth Architecture The standard nKode architecture will not work in low-bandwidth environments. Keypad icons are too large to send from the sever to the client. To over come this issue, we can move the nKode icons from the serve to the users mobile device. The server only sends the indices in which the icons need to be arranged. ```mermaid sequenceDiagram participant User participant Mobile Client participant Server Note over User,Server: Enrollment User ->> Server: Initiate Enrollment Server ->> Server: Generate Keypad Icons Server -->> Mobile Client: Store Icons On Device Note right of Server: Server does not store the icons and does not know what they are Server ->> Mobile Client: Keypad Index Array Mobile Client ->> User: Render Keypad User ->> Server: Set nKode Server ->> Server: Disperse Keypad Server ->> Mobile Client: Keypad Index Array Mobile Client ->> User: Render Keypad User ->> Server: Confirm nKode Note over User,Server: Login Server ->> Mobile Client: Keypad Index Array Mobile Client ->> User: Render Keypad User ->> Server: Successful Login Server ->> Server: Split Shuffle Keypad ``` ## Chacha20 Deterministic CSPRNG A ChaCha20 Deterministic CSPRNG is a cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator that uses the ChaCha20 stream cipher to produce a reproducible sequence of pseudorandom bytes. Given the same 256-bit key and 96-bit public nonce, it will always generate the same output stream, making it deterministic and suitable for use cases that require both security and repeatability. ## Secure Low-Bandwidth Architecture We can modify the architecture above to allow secure authentication over an unencrypted network ```mermaid sequenceDiagram participant User participant Mobile Client participant Server Note over User,Server: Enrollment User ->> Server: Initiate Enrollment Server ->> Server: Generate Keypad Icons Server -->> Mobile Client: Store Icons On Device Note right of Server: Server does not store the icons and does not know what they are rect rgb(191, 223, 255) Server -->> Mobile Client: Store ChaCha20 256-bit key end rect rgb(191, 223, 255) Server ->> Server: Ciphered Keypad Index Array =
ChaCha20FisherYates(Keypad Index Array, SharedKey, Nonce) Server ->> Mobile Client: Ciphered Keypad Index Array + Nonce end Note right of Server: Server also sends the 96-bit nonce in plain-text.
The Serve must never use the same nonce twice.
It must be randonly generated for every authentication.
The only additional overhead is the 96-bit nonce. rect rgb(191, 223, 255) Mobile Client ->> Mobile Client: Keypad Index Array =
Reverse(Ciphered Keypad Index Array, SharedKey, Nonce) end Mobile Client ->> User: Render Keypad User ->> Server: Set nKode Server ->> Server: Disperse Keypad rect rgb(191, 223, 255) Server ->> Server: Ciphered Keypad Index Array =
ChaCha20FisherYates(Keypad Index Array, SharedKey, Nonce) Server ->> Mobile Client: Ciphered Keypad Index Array + Nonce end rect rgb(191, 223, 255) Mobile Client ->> Mobile Client: Keypad Index Array =
Reverse(Ciphered Keypad Index Array, SharedKey, Nonce) end Mobile Client ->> User: Render Keypad User ->> Server: Confirm nKode Note over User,Server: Login rect rgb(191, 223, 255) Server ->> Server: Ciphered Keypad Index Array =
ChaCha20FisherYates(Keypad Index Array, SharedKey, Nonce) Server ->> Mobile Client: Ciphered Keypad Index Array + Nonce end rect rgb(191, 223, 255) Mobile Client ->> Mobile Client: Keypad Index Array =
Reverse(Ciphered Keypad Index Array, SharedKey, Nonce) end Mobile Client ->> User: Render Keypad User ->> Server: Successful Login Server ->> Server: Split Shuffle Keypad ```