Enhancing login security through the use of keystroke input dynamics

Abstract

Security is a critical component of most computer systems – especially those used in E-commerce activities over the Internet. Global access to information makes security a critical design issue in these systems. Deployment of sophisticated hardware based authentication systems is prohibitive in all but the most sensitive installations. What is required is a reliable, hardware independent and efficient security system. In this paper, we propose an extension to a keystroke dynamics based security system. We provide evidence that completely software based systems based on keystroke input dynamics can be as effective as expensive and cumbersome hardware based systems. Our system is a behavioral based system that captures the typing patterns of a user and uses that information, in addition to standard login/password security to provide a system that is user-friendly and very effective at detecting imposters. The results provide a means of dealing with enhanced security that is growing in demand in web-based applications such as E-commerce.