Virtual Reality Observations: Using Virtual Reality to Augment Lab-Based Shoulder Surfing Research

Mathis, F., O'Hagan, J., Khamis, M. and Vaniea, K. (2022) Virtual Reality Observations: Using Virtual Reality to Augment Lab-Based Shoulder Surfing Research. In: IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (IEEE VR 2022), Christchurch, New Zealand, 12-16 March 2022, pp. 291-300. ISBN 9781665496179 (doi: 10.1109/VR51125.2022.00048)

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Abstract

Given the difficulties of studying the shoulder surfing resistance of authentication systems in a live setting, researchers often ask study participants to shoulder surf authentications by watching two-dimensional (2D) video recordings of a user authenticating. How-ever, these video recordings do not provide participants with a realistic shoulder surfing experience, creating uncertainty in the value and validity of lab-based shoulder surfing experiments. In this work, we exploit the unique characteristics of virtual reality (VR) and study the use of non-immersive/immersive VR recordings for shoulder surfing research. We conducted a user study (N=18) to explore the strengths and weaknesses of such a VR-based shoulder surfing research approach. Our results suggest that immersive VR observations result in a more realistic shoulder surfing experience, in a significantly higher sense of being part of the authentication environment, in a greater feeling of spatial presence, and in a higher level of involvement than 2D video observations without impacting participants’ observation performance. This suggests that studying shoulder surfing in VR is advantageous in many ways compared to currently used approaches, e.g., participants can freely choose their observation angle rather than being limited to a fixed observation angle as done in current methods. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of using VR for shoulder surfing research and conclude with four recommendations to help researchers decide when (and when not) to employ VR for shoulder surfing research in the authentication research domain.

Item Type:Conference Proceedings
Additional Information:This publication was supported by the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow jointly funded PhD studentships, and partially by the EPSRC (EP/V008870/1) and the PETRAS National Centre of Excellence for IoT Systems Cybersecurity, which is also funded by the EPSRC (EP/S035362/1).
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Mathis, Mr Florian and Khamis, Dr Mohamed and O'Hagan, Joseph
Authors: Mathis, F., O'Hagan, J., Khamis, M., and Vaniea, K.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
ISSN:2642-5254
ISBN:9781665496179
Published Online:20 April 2022
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2022 The Author(s)
Publisher Policy:Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy
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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
310627TAPS: Assessing, Mitigating and Raising Awareness of the Security and Privacy Risks of Thermal ImagingMohamed KhamisEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)EP/V008870/1Computing Science