User Credential Hardening through Keystroke Dynamics

Most computer systems rely on usernames and passwords as a mechanism for access control and authentication of autho-rized users. These credential sets offer weak protection to a broad scope of applications with differing levels of sensitivity. Traditional physiological biometric systems such as fingerprint, face, and iris recognition are not readily deployable in re-mote authentication schemes. Keystroke dynamics provide the ability to combine the ease of use of username / password schemes with the increased security and trustworthiness associated with biometrics. Our research extends previous work on keystroke dynamics by incorporating shift-key patterns. The system is capable of operating at various points on a traditional ROC curve depending on application specific security needs. A 1 % False Accept Rate is attainable at a 14 % False Reject Rate for high security systems. An Equal Error Rate of 5 % can be obtained in lower security systems. As a username pass-word authentication scheme, our approach decreases the imposter penetration rate associated with compromised passwords by 95-99%. 1