A pilot study on the security of pattern screen-lock methods and soft side channel attacks

Andriotis, Panagiotis; Tryfonas, Theo; Oikonomou, George; Yildiz, Can

Abstract

Graphical passwords that allow a user to unlock a smartphone's screen are one of the Android operating system's features and many users prefer them instead of traditional textbased codes. A variety of attacks has been proposed against this mechanism, of which notable are methods that recover the lock patterns using the oily residues left on screens when people move their fingers to reproduce the unlock code. In this paper we present a pilot study on user habits when setting a pattern lock and on their perceptions regarding what constitutes a secure pattern. We use our survey's results to establish a scheme, which combines a behaviour-based attack and a physical attack on graphical lock screen methods, aiming to reduce the search space of possible combinations forming a pattern, to make it partially or fully retrievable. Copyright 2013 ACM.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: WiSec 2013 - Proceedings of the 6th ACM Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks
• Acceptance Date: Jan 20, 2013
• Publication Date: Jul 4, 2013
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 1-6
• Book Title: Proceedings of the Sixth ACM Conference on Security and Privacy in Wireless and Mobile Networks
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/2462096.2462098
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/936603
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2462096.2462098
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : Proceedings of the sixth ACM conference on Security and privacy in wireless and mobile networks (WiSec '13)