M-Pattern: A novel scheme for improving the security of Android Pattern unlock against smudge attacks

Abstract

Smudge attacks are a threat specifically targeting Android pattern unlock. Current solutions improve the security of pattern unlock by significantly reducing its usability. In this paper, we propose a novel scheme called M-Pattern to improve the security of pattern unlock against smudge attacks without significantly compromising the usability. A security analysis was performed to demonstrate that M-Pattern can have significantly stronger security than normal pattern unlock by just using two simple patterns. A pilot user study was also carried out to investigate the usability of M-Pattern.