Graphical Password Authentication IEEE CSE

Abstract :- :- 

          The most common computer authentication method is to use alphanumerical usernames and passwords. This method has been shown to have significant drawbacks. For example, users tend to pick passwords that can be easily guessed. On the other hand, if a password is hard to guess, then it is often hard to remember.

        To address this problem, some researchers have developed authentication methods that use pictures as passwords. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive survey of the existing graphical password techniques. We classify these techniques into two categories: recognition-based and recall-based approaches. We discuss the strengths and limitations of each method and point out the future research directions in this area.

          We also try to answer two important questions: “Are graphical passwords as secure as text-based passwords?”; “What are the major design and implementation issues for graphical passwords”. In this paper , we are conducting a comprehensive survey of existing graphical image password authentication techniques. Also we are here proposing a new technique for graphical authentication.

Overview Of The Authentication Methods 

Current authentication methods can be divided into three main areas:

•      Token based authentication

•      Biometricbased authentication

•      Knowledge based authentication 

Token based techniques, such as key cards, bank cards and smart cards are widely used. Many token-based authentication systems also use knowledge based techniques to enhance security. For example, ATM cards are generally used together with a PIN number. 

Biometric based authentication techniques, such as fingerprints, iris scan, or facial recognition, are not yet widely adopted. The major drawback of this approach is that such systems can be expensive, and the identification process can be slow and often unreliable. However, this type of technique provides he highest level of security.  

        Knowledge based techniques are the most widely used authentication techniques and include both text-based and picture-based passwords. The picture-based techniques can  be further divided into two categories: recognition-based and recall-based graphical techniques. Using recognition-based techniques, a user is presented with a set of images and the user passes the authentication by recognizing and identifying the images he or she selected during the registration stage. Using recall-based techniques, a user is asked to reproduce something that he or she created or selected earlier during the registration stage.

Recognition Based Techniques 

Dhamija and Perrig  proposed a graphical authentication scheme based on the HashVisualization technique . In their system, the user is asked to select a certain number of images from a  set of random pictures generated by a program . Later, the user will be required to identify the pre selected images in order to be authenticated. The results showed that 90% of all participants succeeded in the authentication using this technique, while only 70% succeeded using text-based passwords and PINS. The average log-in time, however, is longer than the traditional approach. A weakness of this system is that the server needs to store the seeds of the portfolio images of each user in plain text. Also, the process of selecting a set of pictures from the picture database can be tedious and time consuming for the user.

Conclusion

The past decade has seen a growing interest in using graphical passwords as an alternative to the traditional text-based passwords. In this paper, we have conducted a comprehensive survey of existing graphical password techniques. The current graphicalpassword techniques can be classified into two categories: recognition-based and recall-based techniques.

Although the main argument for graphical passwords is that people are better at memorizing graphical passwords than text-based passwords, the existing user studies are very limited and there is not yet convincing evidence to support this argument. Our preliminary analysis suggests that it is more difficult to break graphical passwords using the traditional attack methods such as brute force search, dictionary attack, or spyware. However, since there is not yet wide deployment of graphical password systems, the vulnerabilities of graphical passwords are still not fully understood.