Publication details

Home Publication details

A Survey of User Opinions and Preference Towards Graphical Authentication
Jali MZ, Furnell SM, Haskell-Dowland PS (Dowland PS), Reid F
Proceedings of the Fourth Collaborative Research Symposium on Security, E-learning, Internet and Networking (SEIN 2008), Wrexham, UK, ISBN: 978-1-84102-196-6, pp11-20, 2008
Can be ordered on-line.
Download links:  Download PDF

User authentication is a process of proving a user’s identity to the services or systems that they wish to use. The traditional way of using authentication is the combination of username and password. This paper presents a study carried out to investigate users’ opinions and preferences towards the use of images/pictures as an alternative method of authentication. A survey was carried out within a university environment and participants were asked to use a standalone graphical authentication prototype and provide feedback. Overall, preliminary results of the study showed that although participants initially had problem using the prototype, they enjoyed using it after a few attempts. This indication and other positive results suggested that user authentication using pictures/images could be used as one of the alternatives for balancing the weaknesses in traditional username/passwords.

Jali MZ, Furnell SM, Haskell-Dowland PS (Dowland PS), Reid F