No Fingerprint: Use any picture as Password

Are the days of typing passwords numbered?



A Japanese group have proposed an authentication system that uses a pair of digital images instead of alphanumeric passwords.

The system that uses one clear and easily recognizable image and another that is a highly pixilated, unclear version of the original (see the graphic above).

When creating a new password or changing an old one, the system provides the legitimate user with the clear image. But during the authentication phase, the system shows the user the unclear image, along with a number of decoy images.

To the user who holds the clear version, the unclear image is easy to pick out. But to an impersonator, finding the correct image becomes difficult.

For added security, the computer may display a group of photos that does not contain the pass-image. In that case, the user can answer "no pass-image."

Masakatsu Nishigaki is professor of informatics at Shizuoka University in Japan.

Related: Security hole in Microsoft Fingerprint Reader

Source: Photos as Passwords