Authenticating With Your Mouse?

degauss asks: "I am looking into various authentication schemes form my home machine, and one that I thought would be interesting would to be having a dummy login screen up with a user/pass prompt, but instead of entering a user/pass, you click at certain points on the screen in certain rytmhmic patterns (all of this is of course unknown to any unauthorized users, who will pound at the password for years). I was wondering if there it any such software or interface currently being developed, as it provides an interesting [semi-]biometric security solution without dumping a ton of cash on new hardware."

Comments

Don't count on obscurity

[bkhl]

I don't know if this would work. I guess it would really give you less variation in possible passphrases than a normal password.

Maybe if you were to 'draw' the password on the screen and the computer would both use the password and analyze the writing it could give you an extra level of security. That would probably work better with a stylus or a touch screen than with a mouse, though.

As for hoping for people to try to type in passwords instead of using the mouse, that is only security by obscurity. Don't trust that.

Along the same lines...

[thecampbeln]

How about using both of these ideas together? Have it to where even the correct username/password is not accepted unless the user clicks on the right section of the screen, or right sequence of sections of the screen in place of simply clicking "Ok"!? So in essence the "Ok" button would be a dummy and the correct "button" would be another portion of the screen entirely?

Re:Along the same lines...

[Motherfucking Shit]

So in essence the "Ok" button would be a dummy and the correct "button" would be another portion of the screen entirely?

Good idea. I propose that we give the real button the appearance of the Pi symbol, and place it in the far lower right-hand corner of the screen... ;)