The Feet in Human-Centred Security: Investigating Foot-Based User Authentication for Public Displays

Watson, K., Bretin, R. , Khamis, M. and Mathis, F. (2022) The Feet in Human-Centred Security: Investigating Foot-Based User Authentication for Public Displays. In: 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '22), New Orleans, LA, USA, 30 Apr - 05 May 2022, p. 441. ISBN 9781450391566 (doi: 10.1145/3491101.3519838)

Abstract

A large body of work investigated touch, mid-air, and gaze-based user authentication. However, little is known about authentication using other human body parts. In this paper, we investigate the idea of foot-based user authentication for public displays (e.g., ticket machines). We conducted a user study (N=13) on a virtual prototype, FeetAuth, on which participants use their dominant foot to rotate through PIN elements (0–9) that are augmented along a circular layout using augmented reality (AR) technology. We investigate FeetAuth in combination with three different layouts: Floor-based, Spatial, and Egocentric, finding that Floor-based FeetAuth resulted in the highest usability with 4-digit PIN entry as fast as M=6.71 (SD=0.67). Participants perceived foot-based authentication as socially acceptable and highlighted its accessibility. Our investigation of foot-based authentication paves the way for further studies on the use of the human body for user authentication.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Bretin, Robin and Mathis, Mr Florian and Khamis, Dr Mohamed
• Authors: Watson, K., Bretin, R., Khamis, M., and Mathis, F.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
• ISBN: 9781450391566
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Authors
• First Published: First published in 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '22): 441
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy

Related URLs

• Organisation
• Author

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
303764		EPSRC CDT - Socially Intelligent Artificial Agents	Alessandro Vinciarelli	Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)	EP/S02266X/1	Computing Science
310627		TAPS: Assessing, Mitigating and Raising Awareness of the Security and Privacy Risks of Thermal Imaging	Mohamed Khamis	Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)	EP/V008870/1	Computing Science
313490		Preventing THErmal ATtacks using AI-driven Approaches	Mohamed Khamis	Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)	5676417 -PETRAS	Computing Science