14-10-2010, 10:44 AM
Prepared by:
ANITHA .Y
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Introduction
Users nowadays are provided with major password stereotypes such as textual passwords, biometric scanning, tokens or cards (such as an ATM) etc. Current authentication systems suffer from many weaknesses.
Textual passwords are commonly used; however, users do not follow their requirements. Users tend to choose meaningful words from dictionary or their pet names, girlfriends etc. Ten years back Klein performed such tests and he could crack 10-15 passwords per day. On the other hand, if a password is hard to guess, then it is often hard to remember. Users have difficulty remembering a password that is long and random appearing. So, they create short, simple, and insecure passwords that are susceptible to attack. Which make textual passwords easy to break and vulnerable to dictionary or brute force attacks. Graphical passwords schemes have been proposed. The strength of graphical passwords comes from the fact that users can recall and recognize pictures more than words. Most graphical passwords are vulnerable for shoulder surfing attacks, where an attacker can observe or record the legitimate user’s graphical password by camera. Token based systems such as ATMs are widely applied in banking systems and in laboratories entrances as a mean of authentication. However, Smart cards or tokens are vulnerable to loss or theft. Moreover, the user has to carry the token whenever access required. Biometric scanning is your "natural" signature and Cards or Tokens prove your validity. But some people hate the fact to carry around their cards, some refuse to undergo strong IR exposure to their retinas (Biometric scanning).
In this paper, we present and evaluate our contribution, i.e., the 3-D password. The 3-D password is a multifactor authentication scheme. To be authenticated, we present a 3-D virtual environment where the user navigates and interacts with various objects. The sequence of actions and interactions toward the objects inside the 3-D environment constructs the user’s 3-D password. The 3-D password can combine most existing authentication schemes such as textual passwords, graphical passwords, and various types of biometrics into a 3-D virtual environment. The design of the 3-D virtual environment and the type of objects selected determine the 3-Dpassword key space.
