Graphical user authentication: A time interval based approach

Abstract

A number of authentication techniques have been proposed in the recent times that are based upon graphical methods. Text based passwords are most commonly used for authentication, however, they are highly vulnerable to several kinds of attacks. Graphical techniques are coming up as an attractive alternative to the conventional methods of authentication. In this paper we have proposed a graphical method of authentication that employs graphical coordinates along with a novel introduction of time interval between successive clicks. The user needs to recall the coordinates and the time interval of the successive clicks. This leads to the incorporation of the advantages of the recent graphical methods along with the added security achieved through the use of time interval. The proposed scheme has a much higher password space than the other contemporary graphical authentication schemes. The scheme is robust, secure and very convenient to use.