Word-Pattern: Enhancement of Usability and Security of User-Chosen Recognition Textual Password

Knowledge-based authentication systems are the most common methods used to verify users’ identity, especially textual passwords. However, periodic changes in password complexity exacerbate human’s limitations of remembering hard passwords over time. Therefore, a novel authentication method called Word Pattern Recognition Textual Password (WPRTP) was proposed to overcome these issues. WPRTP is based on drawing pattern on a grid with a specific security requirement to balance between usability and security. This paper aims to compare WPRTP with a recall passphrase to explore its potential for enhancing user experience, usability, and security. Fifty-four users evaluated the efficiency of WPRTP on memorability, registration time, and login time. The results indicated that WPRTP is significantly more memorable over long-term periods, with a 100% success rate, and required less registration time (29 seconds for WPRTP and 122 seconds for recall passphrase). Additionally, WPRTP users demon-strated faster login times (20 seconds for WPRTP and 42 seconds for recall passphrase). Thus, WPRTP is a potential alternative to conventional authentication methods. Future work will focus on systematically managing and reducing the tendency among users to depend on familiar, repetitive patterns in the creation of a weak password.

@article{Wasfi2024,
  title     = {Word-Pattern: Enhancement of Usability and Security of User-Chosen Recognition Textual Password},
  journal   = {International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications},
  volume    = {15},
  number    = {6},
  year      = {2024},
  publisher = {The Science and Information Organization},
  author    = {Hassan Wasfi and Richard Stone and Ulrike Genschel},
  doi       = {10.14569/IJACSA.2024.0150605},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2024.0150605}
}