Symmetry (Apr 2021)

Test for Detection of Weak Graphic Passwords in Passpoint Based on the Mean Distance between Points

  • Joaquín Alberto Herrera-Macías,
  • Carlos Miguel Legón-Pérez,
  • Lisset Suárez-Plasencia,
  • Luis Ramiro Piñeiro-Díaz,
  • Omar Rojas,
  • Guillermo Sosa-Gómez

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/sym13050777
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 5
p. 777

Abstract

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This work demonstrates the ineffectiveness of the Ripley’s K function tests, the distance to the nearest neighbor, and the empty space function in the Graphical Authentication scenario with Passpoint for the detection of non-random graphical passwords. The results obtained show that none of these tests effectively detect non-random graphical passwords; the reason for their failure is attributed to the small sample of the spatial pattern in question, where only the five points of the graphical password are analyzed. Consequently, a test based on mean distances is proposed, whose experiments show that it detects with good efficiency non-random graphical passwords in Passpoint. The test was designed to be included in the Graphical Authentication systems with Passpoint to warn the user about a possibly weak password during the registration phase, and in this way, the security of the system is increased.

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