Password Proximity Scoring for Brute Force Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current security systems face challenges in handling incorrect password entries, often resulting in user lockouts or the need for password resets due to limited attempts or ineffective prevention of brute force attacks, without adequately distinguishing between genuine and incorrect user inputs.
Innovation Solution
A method that determines a proximity score comparing attempted passwords to actual passwords using alphanumeric, spatial, and gestural matching, along with natural language processing, to assess the likelihood of the user's identity and dynamically adjust security settings and penalties based on the probability of a correct entry.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the system limits the number of password attempts to prevent brute force attacks, then security against automated attacks is improved, but user convenience deteriorates when legitimate users make honest mistakes
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different quality thresholds to different password attempts. The first attempt uses a strict match criterion, while subsequent attempts use progressively more lenient proximity scoring. This local differentiation allows the system to be strict when needed (preventing brute force) and lenient when appropriate (accommodating honest mistakes).
Solution Approach 2:
The security criteria dynamically adjust based on the attempt number and proximity score. The system transitions from a static all-or-nothing approach to a dynamic system that modifies its response based on real-time analysis of password proximity and attempt history, balancing security and user convenience adaptively.
2Ease of operation
If the system provides multiple password attempt opportunities, then user convenience is improved, but security against brute force attacks deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Different security thresholds are applied locally to each attempt. Early attempts have stricter requirements, while later attempts use more lenient proximity-based scoring. This resolves the contradiction by providing multiple attempts without uniformly lowering security standards.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms where the outcome of each attempt influences subsequent security criteria. By analyzing proximity scores and attempt patterns, the system adjusts its response, providing helpful feedback to legitimate users while maintaining protection against brute force attacks.
3Reliability
If the system uses strict password matching, then security is improved, but user burden increases due to lockouts from minor typing errors
Solution Approach 1:
The matching criteria transition from static strict matching to dynamic proximity-based scoring. The system adaptively determines whether a password attempt is sufficiently close to the correct password, allowing legitimate users with minor typing errors to access their accounts while maintaining security through intelligent differentiation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the matching parameter from exact string equality to a proximity score based on character substitution, insertion, and deletion metrics. This parameter transformation enables the system to tolerate minor errors while maintaining security through contextual analysis of attempt patterns.
4Reliability
If the system implements CAPTCHA to prevent automated password entry, then brute force attack prevention is improved, but device complexity and user experience deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The proximity scoring algorithm serves as an intermediary mechanism that prevents brute force attacks without requiring complex external systems like CAPTCHA. By analyzing password similarity mathematically, the system achieves attack prevention through a more elegant, integrated solution that maintains simpler overall system architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes receiving, from a user via an electronic device, input representing a password to be utilized for an account; automatically determining, utilizing a processor, a complexity value for the input password; automatically determining, based on the determined complexity value, security settings for the account; receiving, from a user via an electronic device, input representing an attempt to login to the account, the input representing an attempt to login to the account including an attempted password; automatically determining that the attempted password does not match the password to be utilized for the account; and determining a course of action to take in response to the determination that the attempted password does not match the password to be utilized for the account, the course of action being determined based at least in part on the automatically determined security settings for the account.