Identity Authentication Based on Keystroke

The variables that help make a handwritten signature a unique human identifier also provide a unique digital signature in the form of a stream of latency periods between keystrokes. This article d scribes a method of verifying the identity ofa user based on such a digital signature, and reports results from trial usage of the system. Rick Joyce and Gopal Gupta Computer systems are now used in almost all aspects of business and commerce and many businesses rely heavily on effective operations of their computer sys-tems for their business to succeed. For computer sys-tems to be effective, they must be secure so that infor-mation stored in them is accessible only to authorized users. Computer security usually involves several compo-nents: l physical security of the computer installations so that unauthorized persons may not enter the installations. l identification, authentication and authorization mechanisms to ensure that persons accessing the computers remotely are allowed access to the systems only if they are authorized to have such access. Use of login names and passwords is the most common mechanism to control user access to computer sys-tems although some sensitive installations require that the user insert a user identification card in spe-cially designed user terminals. l physical security of computer terminals is also used in some sensitive computer systems. This usually re-stricts the user to access the computer system only through one of the designated terminals that are placed in physically secure locations. This article deals only with user authentication. Meth-ods for verifying the identity of an individual can be divided into four classes: (1) objects in the possession of the individual, such as keys, id cards, passports, etc. (2) knowledge that the person has, such as lock combi