Leveraging 3D Benefits for Authentication

Jonathan Gurary,Ye Zhu,Huirong Fu

doi:10.4236/ijcns.2017.108b035

Abstract

Devices with 3D capabilities are quickly gaining in popularity. In this paper, we propose to bring authentication into the third dimension. We define the concept of a 3D authentication scheme based on physical and psychological advantages of 3D. We implement an example of 3D authentication: 3DPass, to demonstrate the superiority of the 3D approach. Our security analysis of 3DPass demonstrates that 3DPass can exceed the password space of an 8 character alphanumeric password with just 6 choices. Our user study finds that 3DPass has superior memorability versus traditional alphanumeric passwords: 98% vs 83% recall rates after one week. We find that passwords in our scheme can be entered in 21 seconds on average when used with the Oculus Rift. We find that using the Oculus Rift improves entry time compared to a traditional 2D display, despite having no impact on presence (the feeling of “being there”) or user preference.

Highlights

Virtual Reality (VR) and other 3D technologies are a burgeoning market that is rapidly expanding to applications in medicine, entertainment, education, and many other fields
We note that all 7 forgotten alphanumeric passwords belonged to the VR group
We hypothesize that going from memorizing a VR environment to memorizing a traditional alphanumeric password had some impact on user memory, and plan to investigate the effect on our future work

Summary

Introduction

Virtual Reality (VR) and other 3D technologies are a burgeoning market that is rapidly expanding to applications in medicine, entertainment, education, and many other fields. This paper seeks to apply 3D technology to device authentication, both as a method for replacing traditional approaches such as the alphanumeric password on existing systems and for securing virtual reality resources in the future. Memorability and usability advantages of the 3D authentication scheme are founded in various physical and psychological phenomena, described below: Presence: Presence is considered the psychological sense of “being in” a virtual environment [10]. It is often considered the key of virtual reality [11]. Attree et al [14] find that active participants in VR navigation have improved memory for the spatial layout of the environment. A 3D authentication scheme that utilizes active participation in navigation effectively taps into human spatial memory for authentication purposes

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion