Communications of the ACM
Individual Typing Style Gives Key to User Authentication
Oscar Pistorius comes out of the starting blocks in a race last year.
Credit: Reuters
The unique typing styles of computer users could be used for authentication, according to Queensland University of Technology researcher Eesa Al Solami. He has developed the continuous authentication system (CAS), an algorithmic system that captures and analyzes the keystroke dynamics of keyboard users in a single session and allows for user authentication throughout a session.
"While current computer systems can authorize the user at the start of a session, they do not detect whether the current user is still the initial authorized user, a substitute user, or an intruder pretending to be a valid user," Al Solami says. "This makes a system that can continuously check the identity of the user throughout a session necessary."
Al Solami says CAS can define a new global threshold for any user and will not be affected by changes in a computer user's typing style. The system would be valuable to the military, financial institutions, and universities, enabling organizations to generate alerts or terminate sessions when it detects a change in user. CAS could be extended to detect the typing styles on tablets and other mobile devices, Al Solami says.
From Queensland University of Technology
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2012 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA 
No entries found