AUTHENTICATION METHOD AND SYSTEM USING PASSWORD AS THE AUTHENTICATION KEY

A computer implemented user authentication method, according to which a mobile application is installed on the mobile terminal device of the user and when the user inputs his username and password, the mobile application creates a private and public encryption keys and encrypts the password with the public key. Data including the encrypted password, the username and the public key is sent to a dedicated server and stored therein as an encrypted file under the username, along with information required for contacting the user's mobile terminal device. The user to selects, and enrolls to, an advanced authentication mechanism, which creates an authentication key for validating the identity of the user and encrypting the private key. The encrypted private key is stored on the user's terminal device. Upon launching the mobile application, the user selects a preferred advanced authentication mechanism which returns an authentication key upon successful authentication of the user. The authentication key is used to decrypt the encrypted private key. Then the encrypted password for the user is retrieved and the private key is used to decrypt the user's password. The user's username and password are then forwarded to the mobile application, to complete the authentication.