Password Verification System Detecting Keyboard Pattern Adjacency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing password management systems are vulnerable to easily guessable passwords generated using physical key arrangements, which can be cracked by malicious third parties, leading to security breaches.
Innovation Solution
A password verification system that assesses whether a password can be generated by using the characteristics of a physical key arrangement by detecting adjacent keys and calculating a password determination value based on the frequency of these keys, determining if the password is easily guessable and notifying users to change it.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users choose passwords that are easy to memorize (such as dictionary words, personal information, or keyboard patterns), then user convenience is improved, but password security deteriorates because these passwords can be easily guessed by malicious third parties
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of keyboard-pattern passwords before authentication is completed. By calculating the detection frequency of adjacent keys in the input password and comparing it against threshold values, the system identifies potentially weak passwords in advance and prevents authentication, thereby blocking security threats before they can materialize.
2Device complexity
If the password detection method uses simple comparison with pre-registered passwords, then the detection process is simple, but it cannot detect passwords generated by keyboard patterns that were not pre-registered
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces the mechanical approach of maintaining and comparing against pre-registered password lists with a mathematical calculation system. By computing detection frequencies based on adjacent key relationships and applying threshold comparisons, the system can identify keyboard-pattern passwords through calculation rather than lookup, enabling detection of previously unseen patterns without requiring extensive pre-registration.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses parameter changes in the form of detection frequency thresholds to adapt to different password security requirements. By adjusting threshold values (e.g., 0.3, 0.5, 0.7), the same detection mechanism can accommodate varying security policies and keyboard layouts, providing flexible and precise detection without changing the fundamental detection algorithm.
3Reliability
If the system detects and blocks passwords with high detection frequencies, then security against keyboard patterns is improved, but legitimate passwords that coincidentally have high detection frequencies may be incorrectly blocked
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial detection by focusing specifically on the characteristic pattern of keyboard adjacency rather than blocking all passwords with repeated characters. By calculating detection frequencies based on adjacent key relationships and using threshold-based filtering, the system targets keyboard-pattern passwords specifically while allowing legitimate passwords that happen to have adjacent characters but don't follow keyboard patterns to pass through.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and computer for assessing whether a password can be generated by using characteristics of a physical arrangement of keys of an input device. A received password includes characters corresponding to respective select keys in a sequence of select keys of the input device. For each select key, a final detection frequency is calculated as a sum of an initial detection frequency and an additive correction. A password determination value is calculated as a ratio of a total number of select keys having a final detection frequency equal to a minimum detection frequency and the total number of select keys in the sequence of select keys. A determination of whether the calculated password determination value is, or is not, less than a predetermined threshold value indicates that the password cannot, or can, respectively, be generated by using the characteristics of the physical arrangement of keys of the input device.