A comprehensive study of the usability of multiple graphical passwords

Chowdhury, S., Poet, R. and Mackenzie, L. (2013) A comprehensive study of the usability of multiple graphical passwords. In: Kotzé, P., Marsden, G., Lindgaard, G., Wesson, J. and Winckler, M. (eds.) Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2013: 14th IFIP TC 13 International Conference, Cape Town, South Africa, September 2-6, 2013, Proceedings, Part III. Series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science (8119). Springer, pp. 421-441. ISBN 9783642404764 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-40477-1_26)

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Abstract

Recognition-based graphical authentication systems (RBGSs) using images as passwords have been proposed as one potential solution to the need for more usable authentication. The rapid increase in the technologies requiring user authentication has increased the number of passwords that users have to remember. But nearly all prior work with RBGSs has studied the usability of a single password. In this paper, we present the first published comparison of the usability of multiple graphical passwords with four different image types: Mikon, doodle, art and everyday objects (food, buildings, sports etc.). A longi-tudinal experiment was performed with 100 participants over a period of 8 weeks, to examine the usability performance of each of the image types. The re-sults of the study demonstrate that object images are most usable in the sense of being more memorable and less time-consuming to employ, Mikon images are close behind but doodle and art images are significantly inferior. The results of our study complement cognitive literature on the picture superiority effect, vis-ual search process and nameability of visually complex images.

Item Type:Book Sections
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Mackenzie, Dr Lewis and Poet, Dr Ron
Authors: Chowdhury, S., Poet, R., and Mackenzie, L.
Subjects:Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
Publisher:Springer
ISBN:9783642404764
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2013 The Authors
Publisher Policy:Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.

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