Dynamic Keypad Authentication to Counter Sensor-Based Attacks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing authentication methods on mobile devices are vulnerable to security exploits using sensors like accelerometers and gyroscopes, and biometric data is insecure and difficult to change, necessitating a more secure and versatile authentication solution.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a dynamic keypad zone on a touch screen where the operable keypad and its image move relative to the display, with a mapping between the two, ensuring the user input is encoded and hidden from view, using a subset of hotspots to generate a scrambled keypad image that changes location for each authentication session.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If biometric authentication is used, then user convenience is improved, but security vulnerabilities increase due to sensor-based attacks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a dynamic keypad where the visual representation and functional mapping change with device orientation. The keypad zones are dynamically reassigned based on accelerometer and gyroscope data, making static sensor-based attacks ineffective since the attack vectors constantly change.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the functional parameters of the keypad based on device orientation parameters. When the device is rotated or tilted, the mapping between physical keypad zones and logical key functions changes, transforming the security parameter to prevent sensor exploitation while maintaining operational convenience.
2Ease of operation
If a static keypad layout is used, then ease of operation is improved, but security decreases due to predictable sensor attack vectors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a dynamic authentication interface where the keypad layout and functional mapping are not static but change based on real-time device orientation. This dynamism prevents attackers from using static sensor readings to predict key locations, while the changes are transparent to legitimate users maintaining ease of operation.
3Adaptability or versatility
If biometric data is stored, then authentication capability is improved, but security and reversibility worsen since biometric data cannot be changed if compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the authentication system into multiple independent factors: device orientation detection, dynamic keypad mapping, and traditional PIN entry. This segmentation allows the system to provide strong authentication capability without relying on irrevocable biometric data storage, maintaining reversibility through the use of changeable PINs and dynamic spatial parameters.
Data Source
AI summary
Improved methods and systems for secure data entry and/or authentication of a user are provided. A preferred method of the invention comprises: selecting a keypad zone within an area of a display zone of a touch screen which comprises a plurality of hotspots that implement the keys of an operable keypad; providing an image of a keypad at the same location as the keypad zone such that the keypad image covers the operable keys within the keypad zone and the keypad image functions as a visible mask or cover over the operable keys of the keypad zone; a new keypad zone is selected at a different location within the display zone when the process is subsequently repeated, such that the keypad zone and the image are re-positioned to provide an operable keypad and overlaid, masking keypad image in a new area of the screen.