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Home » Position Paper: Measuring the Impact of Alphabet and Culture on Graphical Passwords
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Position Paper: Measuring the Impact of Alphabet and Culture on Graphical Passwords

Authors: 

Adam J. Aviv, United States Naval Academy; Markus Dürmuth, Ruhr-University Bochum; Payas Gupta, New York University Abu Dhabi

Abstract: 

Android's graphical password scheme (sometimes referred to as the "password pattern") is perhaps the most widely used and most studied graphical password system to date. With its launch, Android's only authentication/unlock mechanism was the graphical password; however, other authentication systems are allowed today, such as PINs and text-based passwords. Despite the added authentication choices, the graphical password option remains a very popular choice among Android users.

The graphical password system requires users to select and recall a "pattern" drawn over a 3x3 grid of contact points, connecting between 4 and 9 contact points, without repetition. There are 392,112 possible password, which provide more choices than a 4-digit PIN (10,000); however, like all password systems, users do not choose uniformly from the set of available passwords. Recent studies have shown that the guessability strength of user-generated password patterns is on the order of a random 3-digit PIN and provides weaker security than one might expect.

Adam J. Aviv, United States Naval Academy

Markus Dürmuth, Ruhr-University Bochum

Payas Gupta, New York University Abu Dhabi

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