Partial Password Authentication via Dynamic Risk Scoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing authentication technologies rely on complete passwords, which are difficult for users to memorize and enter, often leading to weak password selection, increased security risks due to password reuse, and frequent interception by malware or malicious software.
Innovation Solution
A system that authenticates users based on a partial password, generating a risk score from user-specific attributes and adjusting the minimum partial password size and similarity threshold based on the risk score, allowing authentication with a smaller subset of the password and tolerating typos, thereby improving security and convenience.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If users select stronger passwords to improve security, then security effectiveness is improved, but user convenience deteriorates due to increased length and complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the complete password into multiple segments or portions. Instead of requiring users to enter the entire password, the system processes and transmits password segments separately, reducing the visibility and interception risk of the complete password while maintaining security through cryptographic processing of each segment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and transmits only a portion or subset of the complete password to the server for authentication, rather than transmitting the entire password. This extraction approach reduces the amount of sensitive information exposed during transmission while still enabling verification against the stored complete password.
2Ease of operation
If users type complete passwords frequently, then authentication functionality is maintained, but security risk increases due to potential interception by malware or malicious software
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and transmits only a portion of the complete password rather than the full password. This reduces the attack surface for interception by keyloggers or network-based malicious software, as even if intercepted, the partial password provides limited useful information to attackers.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs ephemeral or session-specific password portions that are valid only for a single authentication attempt or short time window. These disposable password segments become invalid after use, limiting the value of any intercepted credentials to a single use case.
3Ease of operation
If users select the same password for multiple applications, then ease of use is improved, but security vulnerability increases due to cascading security breaches
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements application-specific or context-specific password portions that are unique to each application or service. Instead of using a single global password, users effectively have different password segments for different applications, isolating security breaches to individual applications while maintaining ease of use through automated segment management.
4Productivity
If complete passwords are transmitted over the network, then authentication processing is enabled, but security risk increases due to network interception
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and transmits only a subset of the complete password over the network for authentication verification. The server receives this partial password portion, processes it against the stored complete password, and returns an authentication result. This extraction approach enables authentication processing while minimizing network exposure of sensitive credentials.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces cryptographic intermediaries such as hash functions or encrypted transformations that process the password before transmission. The actual password or password portion is transformed into an intermediate representation that can be verified by the server but provides no useful information to interceptors, enabling authentication processing without exposing the original credential.
Data Source
AI summary
A system that permits authentication based on a partial password, in which a risk score is assigned to an authentication request, and a minimum partial password size is generated based on the risk score. User-entered password characters are compared to one or more partial passwords having lengths equal to or greater than the minimum partial password size. If a match is found, the user is authenticated. A password similarity threshold for the request may also be generated based on the risk score, indicating a minimum level of similarity required between the user-entered password characters and the characters in a partial password, in order for there to be a match. When the user-entered password characters match a partial password, and the requesting user is authenticated, the system may stop inputting user-entered password characters, and/or transmitting the user-entered password characters to a server computer.