Verifying a User By Following the Movements of Their Mouse

Harperdog writes "Tom Jacobs has a very cool little story about an Israeli research team introducing a novel way of verifying a computer is being operated by its rightful user. Its method, described in the journal Information Sciences, 'continuously verifies users according to characteristics of their interaction with the mouse.'"

Comments

Re:Trackball

[PopeRatzo]

i use a trackball and because of carpall tunnel switch hands often. i guess they could ID me from that alone. but really telegraph operatos could tell who was sending in the 1800's. it took us long enough.

I don't think they're trying to use this like fingerprints or retina. I gather (from not reading the article) that they just want to know if the person who usually uses this computer is the guy who is now using this computer. And I'm guessing that all the little ticks and taps that go on when you're reading something and just have your hand (left or right) resting on your ball (left or right) is pretty distinctive.

It made me notice just now that I do a little rhythmic dance with my pointer while I'm reading. Like a nervous tic. I never realized that until just now.