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Verifying a User By Following the Movements of Their Mouse

Posted by samzenpus on from the tracking-the-pad dept.

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.'"

6 of 101 comments (clear)

  1. Index/Evidence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is it indexical? Yes. Is it evidential? No.

    Translation: unreliable.

  2. And then get locked out... by Lord+Lode · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And then get locked out if you come from cold weather outside and cold hands somehow make you move differently...

    1. Re:And then get locked out... by jones_supa · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Then you would get a screen which requires some additional authentication to solve the situation, and after that disable the mouse protection for a while (so that your hands can warm up).

    2. Re:And then get locked out... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      If it detects you're excited, it logs you in, but defaults the browser to private mode.

  3. Not persistent enough. by Xtense · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I see several potential problems with this kind of identification. One of the biggies is switching hardware and the other - potential hand injuries.

    Changing mice is the biggest issue, i think. Every mouse has a different shape and ergonomy, so it is being used differently by the same user, especially during the adjustment period. This also doesn't take into account the potential precision differences of the mouse. Plus, switching to an entirely different control scheme, like a tablet or trackball, screws up any tracking attempts.

    The other problem is hand injuries - from a simple finger cut to advanced problems with nerve or bone structure. In addition to slowing down the usage, tracking movement will show an entirely different schemes of usage. This one hits especially close home to me, since having recently developed numbness and coordination problems in my dominant hand due to a relapse of Multiple Sclerosis, i now struggle to use a mouse at all and have almost completely switched to a thumb-operated trackball.

    This identification method might be useful in highly integrated/high-security environments, where employees seldom change, or for protecting single-user terminals, but the hand injury problem trumps these uses, too.

    --
    "We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams [...]."
  4. Re:Trackball by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.