Question

Just an open discussion guyz...

What are advantages and disadvantages of gesture based authentication system? have implemented it as desktop app, and now want to implement it for web. Will it be a good idea to use gesture based password instead of text based password?? Please provides reasons as well.

Demo of desktop app for gesture recognition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7UI_avl_VY

Answer 1

Great application of AI.

I haven't seen gesture-based authentication being implemented in desktops so much (I think I've seen it in android smartphones/tablets as you mentioned in the video) but after playing some video games that uses mouse/remote gestures to drive key game mechanics (think of the Nintendo Wii, smartphone games, and PC games such as Arx Fatalis), I think I'm aware of their upsides and downsides.

Gesture-based authentication and command recognition might be more accessible to users with disabilities etc; quick gestures can enable increased convenience to people. They might be easier for humans to learn than text-based passwords or commands.

The downsides of gesture-based input would probably be the lack of feedback to the user. The system may provide limited feedback as to what gesture you have used, and whether it is correct or not. In your video the only indicator of what gesture you've used would be the current position of the mouse. This type of problem can be alleviated possibly through the use of 'tracers' (the colored path drawn as you trace out a gesture on the screen with your finger on the android phones, for example). In Arx Fatalis, every spell you cast (which is all done using mouse gestures) has a rainbow tracer which can help you figure out if the symbol you are drawing resembles a valid spell rune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LueGiUasvFk

Another downside would be that it can get quite awkward :-P

Despite these drawbacks, I recommend you do study and develop gesture-based means of authentication and command input, because I think if designed properly and implemented correctly it can greatly empower the user and facilitate human-computer interaction.

Answer 2

To see how powerful gesture-based commands can be if done right, keep thinking of how user-friendly the smartphones are.

Answer 3

compared to the smartphones that use a nasty keyboard with tiny keys :-P

Answer 4

from viewpoint of security, should it be implemented for website login systems or not?? I think they will be more vulnerable to attack if some colored path is displayed on path of mouse pointer.

Answer 5

You can forget about including the tracer then, but that will leave users with a minimal amount of 'feedback' on their password besides their cursor position and whether they have entered it correctly or not. It's fine if the gesture is very short and quick.

Answer 6

Though actually a gesture-based system will probably be worse for people with disabilities. We've gotten pretty good at easing typing for these people, while mouse input or gesture input can be far more problematic (see, for example, a quadriplegic, or someone who has trouble controlling their hands).

Answer 7

you are right SHADOWFIEND.........:/

However, gesture feedback system can be provided as optional setting that can be enabled by the end user. I think this will make them happy....:D