Passthoughts, Not Passwords: Authentication Via Brainwaves

CowboyRobot writes "A new study by researchers from the U.C. Berkeley School of Information examined the brainwave signals of individuals performing specific actions to see if they can be consistently matched to the right individual. To measure the subjects' brainwaves, the team utilized the NeuroSky Mindset, a Bluetooth headset that records Electroencephalographic (EEG) activity. In the end, the team was able to match the brainwave signals with 99% accuracy (pdf). 'We are not trying to trace back from a brainwave signal to a specific person,' explains Prof. John Chuang, who led the team. 'That would be a much more difficult problem. Rather, our task is to determine if a presented brainwave signal matches the brainwave signals previously submitted by the user when they were setting up their pass-thought.'"

Comments

Walk by lockouts

[jbmartin6]

Great, now anyone walking by can lock out my account with failed auth attempts

Talk about forgetting your password!

[__aaltlg1547]

"I thought my passthought. But maybe I didn't think it the right way. Let me try again..."

Just what we need, an even more complicated and harder to use apparatus with a reduced probability of correctly identifying the right user.

Since when is "works correctly 99% of the time" good enough for an authentication system?