A Hybrid Password Authentication Scheme Based on Shape and Text

Abstract

Text-based password authentication scheme tends to be more vulnerable to attacks such as shoulder surfing or a hidden camera. To overcome the vulnerabilities of traditional methods, visual or graphical password schemes have been developed as possible alternative solutions to text-based password schemes. Since it also has some drawbacks to simply adopt graphical password authentication, schemes using graphic and text have been developed. In this paper, a hybrid password authentication scheme based on shapes and texts is proposed. Shapes of strokes are used in the grid as the original passwords and users can log in with textual passwords via traditional input device. The method provides strong resistance to shoulder surfing or a hidden camera。Moreover, the scheme has high scalability and flexibility to enhance the authentication process security. The analysis of the security level of this approach is also discussed.