The way you type is as unique as your eye color or speech patterns and can be used instead of a password to protect your computer, researchers at Louisiana Tech and Penn State say.

They signed a joint licensing agreement with BioPassword Inc. of Issaquah, Wash.

Vir Phoha, associate professor of computer science, and former graduate student Sunil Babu worked with others at The Pennsylvania State University to create the technology over five years of research.

Any ideas about ways we move a mouse or click?

I think I would need to have three passwords then...

One for first thing in the morning, before I have finished my second cup, one for in the late morning, when I have just finished my last cup, and one for in the late afternoon, when I am too distracted to pay attention to the keyboard.

There are many ways I type also... it depends what I'm thinking about. I use a total of 4 fingers and 2 thumbs, so the potential to miss keys is very high. When i'm "in the zone" i don't miss many, but when i'm not focusing entirely on what it is that I am doing I am prone to miss keys and go slower.

I think that it can't be used instead of a pass as you have to type a longer text before the computer decides whether it's your or not

I fully agree with Coffee Guy ... same case here

All though the idea of using typing is quiet refreshing but i think it might still not be secure enough impliment it.Hardware based security systems can be compramised easily . And since i work on different systems, my style of typing ,would greatly vary from one system to other.We can though develope this concept for one particular hardware,like say optical keyboards etc.

navbaba@gmail.com

the keys you type, and the relationships between the keys you type.

the timing between certain keys can give away hand motion, and also time gaps between words may signal a mental strategy. not just the words, but the time, being an attribute worth recording.

with regard to what Ovidiu is saying, I think the longer the better. the longer a string of words that you produce, the higher the security that can be established. this typing need not be the same as a recorded "password" but the style in which you type it would identify you. again, timing and relationships.

though, we would need new text inputs which care about the timing on keystrokes. or simply new script event handling...

[form]
please enter some text so that we may identify you based on your typing[br /]
[input type="text"
onkeypress="document.getElementById("keylog").update_keylog(event,now());" /][br /]
[input type="hidden" name="keylog" id="keylog"]
[/form]
[script type="text/javascript"]
document.getElementById("keylog").update_keylog = function (evt, when) {
this.setAttribute("value",this.getAttribute("value") + evt.keyCode + ", " + when + "; ");
}
[/script]

then the server might analyze this data in lieu of some previously recorded logs

perhaps this is how it works. despite if this is how they are doing it, i believe it could indeed work this way

-chris

Thumbscans, ocular scans, palm scans, mous styl, typing styl -- just anothr tool in your scurity arsnal. Th nic thing about this on is that you don't hav to hav nw hardwar - just nw softwar. It's mor likly that this on would b bttr for a 'running' scurity chck. As you typ, it rcognizs your styl and styl changs during th day. During mor drastic changs it would bcom obvious to th computr that a diffrnt prson is using th systm. At that point th computr could ask for a scurity password and/or a mor formal typing chck and dcid whthr to:
a. shutdown
b. rport th incursion to big brothr
c. dstroy all data on th hard driv
d. offr to log off and chang to th nw usr (whom it rcognizs)
f. automatically switch usrs in th background without commnt

Prsonally, if you nd that much scurity, you'r going to go for th xpnsiv hardwar. Typing styl would hav to rmain as a scondary prcaution as abov.

Hi there,

The same idea was born with one of my colleague Mr. Shivakumar M.N. who is also the founder member and Director of Technology with our company SourceEdge Software in India.

Though we were excited to see there are brains elsewhere in the world thinking on the lines what he had thought before but we are little disappointed that his idea did not passed through the media attention.

Anyway all the best and good luck. In case you would see there could be a possibility for a collaboration, we are open to discuss.

A mor paranoid prospct:

I'd b concrnd for my privacy to find this systm in th hands of Homland Scurity.
Popl who us this mthod may nd up slling known typing styls attachd to your nam. If thy arn't sold, thy'll b compromisd and stoln. If thy arn't stoln, big brothr will 'acquisition' thm for homland scurity rasons. Your typing styl could nd up in a national databas attachd to your social scurity numbr, your photo, your ocular scan, your thumb scan, your bank and mdical rcords -- yt anothr way for somon to track you down. But bcaus you nd no spcial tools to garnr typing styl from any kyboard, anyon with th right information and th right softwar could track you down. Anyon.

What happns whn Homland Scurity dcids it's tim to 'nhanc' public accss trminals at libraris, banks, vry fdral govrnmnt offic? Thy don't stop you from gtting in - you just gt loggd on in th background as somon thy know. You'r not vn askd. It just is. Now w can track dadbat dads, drug traffickrs, satanists, [Insrt your bad guy hr] -- all in th nam of scurity. What happns whn your typing styl is just a littl too clos to that of th unabombr?

Whn do thy start tracking typing styl and corrllating it to th pur liklihood to commit crims?

Of cours this is just what a paranoid prson might think. Surly this will nvr happn. Surly...

I think it's not a bad idea after all but it's certainly more complicated than typing passwords... I was thinking of a way of tracking your mouse, the way you sqibble with it when you're working is somewhat unique, for example I like working on the right side of the screen or others may like to move the mouse over a text when they're reading it. Although this would need special equipment (such as an optical mouse with good DPI , but they're getting more popular every day), i think it's far more easy to draw or sqibble something instead of typing a long text.

--Best regards

You can always record keyboard and mouse stuff and inject it back I dont see real advantages for that technique if you use standard equipment (well, maybe as some kind of add-on-intrusion detection parallel to the normal password typing).

Well, the days of public anonymous terminals are without a doubt numbered. How long before we each have a secure certificate tied to social security which identifies us at our gateway to the internet? Though, with technology like this, we could have a REAL democracy where anyone eligible votes (just once) on any issue they care about. Suddenly the public opinion counts, and the majority is judged on each single issue (as it should be).

Ok, what about after I ripped a tendon in my finger. I have to change my password just because I had an accident?