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Comment on PeerAuth, TOTP-based peer authentication in the post-truth world

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Isn't the authentication unidirectional? Alice can confirm its Bob, or Bob can confirm its Alice, but they can't both be sure they are talking to the real person.

"Malice" could ask Bob for his code, and lie about it matching (or maybe Malice has no code at all and is pretending to match), lulling Bob into thinking that authentication was successful based on taking Malice's word for it.

Seems like you would need two codes for mutual authentication. One for Alice to Bob, and one for Bob to Alice.

One code should be fine. They can identify in both directions within different time windows.

k_szeOP

Yes, that's what I had in mind. Wait at most 30 seconds, the code will then have rotated and the roles can be reversed.

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