Pass-Sequence Authentication for Input-Constrained Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Input constrained devices, such as mobile phones, face challenges in secure authentication due to increased error rates when typing passwords, which can be exacerbated by auto-correction and auto-completion features, leading to compromised security and user frustration.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a 'pass sequence' or 'fastword' system where users enter a series of distinct words, with error correction and auto-completion features that assist in secure credential entry without compromising security, using cryptographic hashing and equivalence classes to ensure robust authentication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If auto-correction and auto-completion features are enabled to assist users in entering authentication information, then ease of operation is improved, but security deteriorates due to increased error rates and potential password leakage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the authentication credential into multiple distinct words rather than a single continuous password. This segmentation allows the system to provide auto-completion assistance for each word individually while maintaining security through the combination of multiple words. The multi-word structure ensures that even if one word is compromised or auto-completed, the overall authentication remains secure due to the high entropy of the combined sequence.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary processing layer that handles the authentication input through cryptographic hashing and equivalence class mapping. This intermediary mechanism transforms the multi-word input into a secure format for verification, allowing auto-completion features to assist users without directly exposing the password material. The intermediary layer ensures that auto-completion suggestions do not compromise security by working with transformed representations rather than raw credentials.
2Reliability
If a secure, complex password is required to maintain high security, then security is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to increased typing errors on input-constrained devices
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the complex authentication credential into multiple separate words that are easier to type and remember individually. Each word can be entered with assistance from auto-completion features, reducing typing errors. The segmentation maintains security because the system verifies the complete sequence of words rather than individual components, ensuring that the combined entropy of all words provides adequate security while each word remains manageable for manual entry.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter structure of the password from a single continuous string to a sequence of discrete words. This parameter change allows the system to maintain high entropy (security) through the combination of multiple words while improving ease of operation. The word-based structure enables better interaction with auto-completion features and reduces the cognitive load and typing complexity compared to traditional single-password approaches.
3Ease of operation
If auto-correction learns new words from user input to improve completion accuracy, then ease of operation is improved, but security deteriorates as passwords are stored in plaintext in the local dictionary
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces cryptographic hashing as an intermediary between the user's multi-word input and the auto-completion system. Instead of allowing the raw password words to be stored in the plaintext dictionary, the system processes the input through hashing functions that transform the credentials into secure representations. This intermediary mechanism enables auto-completion to function with transformed data rather than exposed credentials, maintaining completion accuracy while preventing plaintext storage of sensitive information.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the essential verification property from the password material through cryptographic hashing. Rather than storing or processing the actual password words in plaintext, the system extracts and verifies only the hashed representation. This extraction approach allows auto-completion to assist with word selection while ensuring that the sensitive credential material never resides in plaintext form in the device's dictionary or storage, thereby maintaining security.
Data Source
AI summary
Authentication techniques, and in particular, authentication techniques which can be used in conjunction with input constrained devices are described herein. A plurality of words is received. The received words are parsed. A credential is authenticated by determining a match based on information associated with at least one of the received words in the plurality.