[Advanced] Pass Codes You Can’t Forget (2014-11-01)

Are user-friendly passwords on the horizon?

Imagine a whole new type of password -- one that lets you dispense with all those numbers, letters and symbols, but is still impenetrable to attackers.

Researchers have created a new password system that could one day allow users to access their bank accounts, phones or favorite websites simply by picking out a familiar face from a grid of nine faces, four times in a row.

They call the system Facelock, and according to a new study, it is teeming with benefits.

Facial Recognition
[With] Facelock, the images in the system are always changing -- even the image of the familiar face.

The research team explains that people do not recognize all faces equally. We have no trouble identifying a familiar face across a series of different images that range in quality. On the other hand, when a face is not familiar to us, we are likely to think that different images of the same person are actually images of different people.

This well-studied psychological phenomenon can be frustrating to police when they ask a witness to identify a person caught in a fuzzy security camera tape, but in the case of Facelock, the researchers were able to exploit it for the good of frustrated password users.

The Success Rate
The researchers looked at how vulnerable the Facelock system is to attack by strangers, as well as people who are close to the users, such as a spouse or other family member.

Facelock was found to be essentially impermeable to people who don't know the users. Even people who were very close to the users were only able to get through all four grids successfully 6.6% of the time.

"Taken together the success rates of account holders (97.5 percent), random zero-acquaintance attackers (less than 1 percent), and nominated high-acquaintance attackers (6.6 percent) strike us as a promising starting point," the researchers [wrote].


Specialized Terms
grid n.
a pattern of horizontal and vertical lines that cross each other to make a set of squares

impermeable adj.
/ɪmˈpɚmijəbəl/
not allowing entrance or passage

Vocabulary Focus
on the horizon (idiom)
likely to happen or exist soon

dispense with (something) (phr v)
to get rid of or stop using something that you do not need

impenetrable adj.
/ɪmˈpɛnətrəbəl/
impossible to enter or go through
penetrable adj.
allowing someone or something to pass through or enter : able to be penetrated
- an easily penetrable border

teem with (something) (phr v)
to contain a large amount of something

exploit v.
/ɪkˈsploɪt/
to use or develop something for your advantage

vulnerable adj.
easily hurt or harmed physically, mentally, or emotionally
- a vulnerable young woman
- He was very vulnerable after his divorce.

acquaintance n.
/əˈkweɪntn̩s/
someone who is known but who is not a close friend
- Is he an acquaintance of yours? [=have you met him?]
- She ran into an old acquaintance at the grocery store.
- My wife and I met through a mutual acquaintance. [=a friend introduced us to each other]
the state of knowing someone in a personal or social way : the state of knowing someone as an acquaintance
- It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. [=(less formally) it's nice to meet you]