Visual passwords: cure-all or snake-oil?
TL;DR: The biometric -- measurement of either behavioral or physiological characteristics of the end-user, which is obviously superior to the password because it removes the burden on the user's memory, is considered.
Abstract: IntroductionUsers of computer systems are accustomed to being asked for passwords -- it is as universal as it is frustrating. In the past there was little tolerance for the problems experienced remembering passwords, and many users still remember, with embarrassment, having to go hat-in-hand to request a password change and being treated with disdain by a lofty administrator. Latterly there is more understanding of the problems experienced by users, especially since the "password conundrum" has reached epidemic proportions for Web users, who are asked for passwords with unrelenting predictability.The problems with passwords are clear -- users cannot remember numbers of meaningless alphanumeric strings with ease. Hence, they react by choosing simple and predictable words or numbers related to their everyday life, and engaging in insecure practices, such as writing passwords down or sharing them. These practices cause a breach affecting even the most secure and protected network system. Hence the user is often called the weakest link of the security chain, with system administrators despairing of trying to maintain security with the weak link so often reaching breaking point. Users forgetting passwords has serious economical consequences for organizations.Both academia and industry have been investigating alternatives to passwords, with varying degrees of success. One of the most well-known solutions is the biometric -- measurement of either behavioral or physiological characteristics of the end-user. This is obviously superior to the password because it removes the burden on the user's memory. So why don't we just switch to biometrics and give the poor user a break? There are some valid and hard-to-overcome reasons for the slow uptake of biometrics, but before we can discuss them we need to consider the mechanics of authentication.
Citations
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09 Aug 2010
TL;DR: This paper examines the feasibility of smudge attacks on touch screens for smartphones, and focuses on the Android password pattern, and provides a preliminary analysis of applying the information learned in a smudge attack to guessing an Android passwordpattern.
Abstract: Touch screens are an increasingly common feature on personal computing devices, especially smartphones, where size and user interface advantages accrue from consolidating multiple hardware components (keyboard, number pad, etc.) into a single software definable user interface. Oily residues, or smudges, on the touch screen surface, are one side effect of touches from which frequently used patterns such as a graphical password might be inferred.
In this paper we examine the feasibility of such smudge attacks on touch screens for smartphones, and focus our analysis on the Android password pattern. We first investigate the conditions (e.g., lighting and camera orientation) under which smudges are easily extracted. In the vast majority of settings, partial or complete patterns are easily retrieved. We also emulate usage situations that interfere with pattern identification, and show that pattern smudges continue to be recognizable. Finally, we provide a preliminary analysis of applying the information learned in a smudge attack to guessing an Android password pattern.
674 citations
27 Aug 2013
TL;DR: Even though the pattern lock does not provide any undo or cancel functionality, it was rated significantly better than PIN in terms of error recovery; this provides insight into the relationship between error prevention and error recovery in user authentication.
Abstract: Graphical password systems based upon the recall and reproduction of visual patterns (e.g. as seen on the Google Android platform) are assumed to have desirable usability and memorability properties. However, there are no empirical studies that explore whether this is actually the case on an everyday basis. In this paper, we present the results of a real world user study across 21 days that was conducted to gather such insight; we compared the performance of Android-like patterns to personal identification numbers (PIN), both on smartphones, in a field study. The quantitative results indicate that PIN outperforms the pattern lock when comparing input speed and error rates. However, the qualitative results suggest that users tend to accept this and are still in favor of the pattern lock to a certain extent. For instance, it was rated better in terms of ease-of-use, feedback and likeability. Most interestingly, even though the pattern lock does not provide any undo or cancel functionality, it was rated significantly better than PIN in terms of error recovery; this provides insight into the relationship between error prevention and error recovery in user authentication.
144 citations
26 Apr 2014
TL;DR: The results indicate that switching the sides increases security while authentication speed stays relatively fast (≤ 4 seconds), and insights on accuracy of eyes-free input (as used in XSide) are provided.
Abstract: In this paper, we present XSide, an authentication mechanism that uses the front and the back of smartphones to enter stroke-based passwords. Users can switch sides during input to minimize the risk of shoulder surfing. We performed a user study (n = 32) to explore how switching sides during authentication affects usability and security of the system. The results indicate that switching the sides increases security while authentication speed stays relatively fast (≤ 4 seconds). The paper furthermore provides insights on accuracy of eyes-free input (as used in XSide) and shows how 3D printed prototype cases can improve the back-of-device interaction experience.
126 citations
19 Mar 2013
TL;DR: Three graphic-based authentication methods in a way to leave smudge traces, which are not easy to interpret, are designed and compared to the widely used Android pattern authentication and indicate that the concepts are significantly more secure against smudge attacks while keeping high input speed.
Abstract: Most of today's smartphones and tablet computers feature touchscreens as the main way of interaction. By using these touchscreens, oily residues of the users' fingers, smudge, remain on the device's display. As this smudge can be used to deduce formerly entered data, authentication tokens are jeopardized. Most notably, grid-based authentication methods, like the Android pattern scheme are prone to such attacks.Based on a thorough development process using low fidelity and high fidelity prototyping, we designed three graphic-based authentication methods in a way to leave smudge traces, which are not easy to interpret. We present one grid-based and two randomized graphical approaches and report on two user studies that we performed to prove the feasibility of these concepts. The authentication schemes were compared to the widely used Android pattern authentication and analyzed in terms of performance, usability and security. The results indicate that our concepts are significantly more secure against smudge attacks while keeping high input speed.
86 citations
11 Jul 2012
TL;DR: This paper reports on a study that sought to address this confound by exploring the recognition of text as a novel means of authentication by finding no significant difference in memorability between text recognition and text recall conditions.
Abstract: Text-based password systems are the authentication mechanism most commonly used on computer systems. Graphical passwords have recently been proposed because the pictorial-superiority effect suggests that people have better memory for images. The most widely advocated graphical password systems are based on recognition rather than recall. This approach is favored because recognition is a more effective manner of retrieval than recall, exhibiting greater accuracy and longevity of material. However, schemes such as these combine both the use of graphical images and the use of recognition as a retrieval mechanism. This paper reports on a study that sought to address this confound by exploring the recognition of text as a novel means of authentication. We hypothesized that there would be significant differences between text recognition and text recall conditions. Our study, however, showed that the conditions were comparable; we found no significant difference in memorability. Furthermore, text recognition required more time to authenticate successfully.
64 citations
Cites background from "Visual passwords: cure-all or snake..."
...Graphical password systems can be categorized as a drawmetric, locimetric or cognometric mechanism [34]....
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References
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TL;DR: Evidence is presented that a particular area within human parahippocampal cortex is involved in a critical component of navigation: perceiving the local visual environment, and it is proposed that the PPA represents places by encoding the geometry of the local environment.
Abstract: Medial temporal brain regions such as the hippocampal formation and parahippocampal cortex have been generally implicated in navigation and visual memory. However, the specific function of each of these regions is not yet clear. Here we present evidence that a particular area within human parahippocampal cortex is involved in a critical component of navigation: perceiving the local visual environment. This region, which we name the 'parahippocampal place area' (PPA), responds selectively and automatically in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to passively viewed scenes, but only weakly to single objects and not at all to faces. The critical factor for this activation appears to be the presence in the stimulus of information about the layout of local space. The response in the PPA to scenes with spatial layout but no discrete objects (empty rooms) is as strong as the response to complex meaningful scenes containing multiple objects (the same rooms furnished) and over twice as strong as the response to arrays of multiple objects without three-dimensional spatial context (the furniture from these rooms on a blank background). This response is reduced if the surfaces in the scene are rearranged so that they no longer define a coherent space. We propose that the PPA represents places by encoding the geometry of the local environment.
2,842 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that to change this state of affairs, security departments need to communicate more with users, and adopt a usercentered design approach.
Abstract: Many system security departments treat users as a security risk to be controlled. The general consensus is that most users are careless and unmotivated when it comes to system security. In a recent study, we found that users may indeed compromise computer security mechanisms, such as password authentication, both knowing and unknowingly. A closer analysis, however, revealed that such behavior is often caused by the way in which security mechanisms are implemented, and users’ lack of knowledge. We argue that to change this state of affairs, security departments need to communicate more with users, and adopt a usercentered design approach.
1,458 citations
"Visual passwords: cure-all or snake..." refers background in this paper
...These are by no means orthogonal, since a system with poor usability will often cause users to take subversive measures.(1) Each type of user authentication, including graphical proposals, represents some sort of compromise addressing both security and usability....
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TL;DR: Three areas of high-level scene perception research are reviewed, focusing on the role of eye movements in scene perception and the influence of ongoing cognitive processing on the position and duration of fixations in a scene.
Abstract: Three areas of high-level scene perception research are reviewed. The first concerns the role of eye movements in scene perception, focusing on the influence of ongoing cognitive processing on the position and duration of fixations in a scene. The second concerns the nature of the scene representation that is retained across a saccade and other brief time intervals during ongoing scene perception. Finally, we review research on the relationship between scene and object identification, focusing particularly on whether the meaning of a scene influences the identification of constituent objects.
929 citations
"Visual passwords: cure-all or snake..." refers background in this paper
...general description of the scene: such as a baby reaching for a butterfly.(6) Epstein and Kanwisher4 identified a specific part of the brain that responded...
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Proceedings Article•
23 Aug 1999TL;DR: This work proposes and evaluates new graphical password schemes that exploit features of graphical input displays to achieve better security than text-based passwords and describes the prototype implementation of one of the schemes on a personal digital assistants (PDAs) namely the Palm PilotTM.
Abstract: In this paper we propose and evaluate new graphical password schemes that exploit features of graphical input displays to achieve better security than text-based passwords. Graphical input devices enable the user to decouple the position of inputs from the temporal order in which those inputs occur, and we show that this decoupling can be used to generate password schemes with substantially larger (memorable) password spaces. In order to evaluate the security of one of our schemes, we devise a novel way to capture a subset of the "memorable" passwords that, we believe, is itself a contribution. In this work we are primarily motivated by devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) that offer graphical input capabilities via a stylus, and we describe our prototype implementation of one of our password schemes on such a PDA, namely the Palm PilotTM.
869 citations
"Visual passwords: cure-all or snake..." refers background in this paper
...One example of this is the Draw-a-Secret scheme.(7) Unfortunately, participants in an evalua-...
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01 Jul 2005-International Journal of Human-computer Studies \/ International Journal of Man-machine Studies
TL;DR: PassPoints is described, a new and more secure graphical password system, and an empirical study comparing the use of PassPoints to alphanumeric passwords is reported, which shows that the graphical password users created a valid password with fewer difficulties than the alphan numeric users.
Abstract: Computer security depends largely on passwords to authenticate human users. However, users have difficulty remembering passwords over time if they choose a secure password, i.e. a password that is long and random. Therefore, they tend to choose short and insecure passwords. Graphical passwords, which consist of clicking on images rather than typing alphanumeric strings, may help to overcome the problem of creating secure and memorable passwords. In this paper we describe PassPoints, a new and more secure graphical password system. We report an empirical study comparing the use of PassPoints to alphanumeric passwords. Participants created and practiced either an alphanumeric or graphical password. The participants subsequently carried out three longitudinal trials to input their password over the course of 6 weeks. The results show that the graphical password users created a valid password with fewer difficulties than the alphanumeric users. However, the graphical users took longer and made more invalid password inputs than the alphanumeric users while practicing their passwords. In the longitudinal trials the two groups performed similarly on memory of their password, but the graphical group took more time to input a password.
713 citations