Smartwatch-based gait biometrics

Abstract

Although a reliable implementation of a smartwatch-based gait biometric system would usher in a new era of transparent authentication, the creation of such a system would not be without its own ethical problems. A primary problem of passwords is that users tend to reuse a small set of passwords (or, more realistically a single password; a primary responsibility (at least in the eyes of the commercial cybersecurity world) of biometrics is to replace these systems for that very reason (among others). The problem with an effective gait biometric system-much like many other forms of biometrics-is that once a user's training data is provided to the system that system can effectively impersonate that user; in essence, “reuse” is unavoidable. Thus, it becomes the responsibility of those designing gait biometric systems to create systems that are resistant to replay-style attacks. Similarly, work has to be done to ensure that the sensitive data collected from the smartwatch's sensors is not left in memory (where it could be recovered forensically or by a malicious application); much as traditional systems work to secure passwords. Gait biometrics might be the future of transparent authentication, but that does not allow conventional cybersecurity wisdom to be forgotten.