Title: Optimising password security through key-pattern analysis

Authors: Ravel Jabbour, Wes Masri, Ali El-Hajj

Addresses: Department of Computer and Communications Engineering, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon. ' Computer Science Department, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon. ' Department of Computer and Communications Engineering, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

Abstract: No security mechanism has been deemed secure enough. Thus, the research into application security has ventured into the alternative technologies that consider the user aspects of implementation. In this paper, we present an enhanced approach to password security based on Key-Pattern Analysis (KPA). Our approach relies on its two focal pillars, inter and intra timing, which are stretched along the lines of increasing password entropy, trouncing the habit factor and finally, trimming down the error margin under an appropriate user-fitting technique. Other user optimisation techniques include token authentication and character-sound recognition. By serving notice as to the immense power of intra timing in reliable authentication, we amount to the development of beat-like passwords as a means of strengthening the overall KPA mechanism.

Keywords: password security; key pattern analysis; KPA; keystroke analysis; user authentication; biometrics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJITST.2011.039777

International Journal of Internet Technology and Secured Transactions, 2011 Vol.3 No.2, pp.178 - 193

Published online: 29 Nov 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article