Unrecorded Credential Encoding via Sensory Object Association
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current password management tools are cumbersome and insecure, as users face difficulties in creating and sharing robust credentials due to vulnerabilities in password storage and sharing, and existing graphical authentication methods lack support for recall and sharing of contextual information.
Innovation Solution
A method that encodes private terms, phrases, or sentences using recognizable objects and recall triggers, allowing users to create and share complex credentials without recording them, using a system that employs software on a local device to associate sensory stimulating objects with unrecorded alphanumeric phrases and provide contextual hints for recall, enabling secure and shareable credentialing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If users create complex passwords to improve security, then security strength is improved, but ease of recall and operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary encoding system that transforms complex passwords into recognizable objects with contextual hints. The system acts as a mediator between the user's memory and the complex credential, allowing users to recall simple contextual clues rather than the complex password itself, thereby maintaining both security strength and ease of recall.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables users to generate their own encoded credentials using personally meaningful objects and hints. This self-service approach allows users to create secure credentials that are inherently memorable to them, eliminating the need to rely on external password management tools or struggle to remember complex randomly-generated passwords.
2Ease of operation
If users document complex passwords to improve recall, then ease of operation is improved, but security deteriorates due to storage vulnerabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the critical security element (the complex password) from the recall process entirely. Instead of storing or documenting the password itself, the system only stores and provides access to benign recognizable objects and contextual hints. The actual credential never leaves the secure credential manager, eliminating storage vulnerabilities while maintaining ease of recall through the extracted contextual elements.
3Reliability
If password management tools are used to generate complex passwords, then security strength is improved, but device complexity and ease of operation worsen due to copying and pasting requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables users to generate their own encoded credentials using personally meaningful objects and hints. This self-service approach allows users to create secure credentials that are inherently memorable to them, eliminating the need to rely on external password management tools or struggle to remember complex randomly-generated passwords.
4Ease of operation
If graphical authentication methods are implemented, then ease of operation is improved through visual recognition, but security deteriorates due to image compromise risks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extends the utility of recognizable objects beyond simple authentication to include credential encoding and sharing. The same visual objects serve multiple functions: they are the basis for generating secure credentials, providing recall hints, and enabling secure sharing with confidants. This multi-functionality increases operational ease while the underlying encoding mechanism maintains security.
Data Source
AI summary
This invention describes a method to encode a private term, phrase or sentence whereby the term, phrase, or sentence is never recorded (or required) by the encoding method and said term, phrase, or sentence is only decodable by the encoder or confidants in which the encoding scheme for the private term, phrase, or sentence is shared. A preferred embodiment is a security system for user authentication and credentialing based on personalized memories of the user, allowing for robust recall of an unrecorded private term, phrase, or sentence using sequenced recognizable objects, recall triggers including contextual hints and trusted confidants. The invention is very extensible, providing a flexible method to the user to protect valuable digital assets and/or remote computing devices with complex credentialing values which are virtually impossible to discern by third parties.