Behavioral user authentication using 3D gestures

Abstract

Authentication methods are getting increasingly complex and several robust alternatives are being developed to replace alpha numeric passwords. Since requirements for modern day passwords are getting increasingly demanding, there has been a shift towards development of authentication schemes which incorporate behavioral characteristics such as gait or a 3D gesture. This project aims to create an authentication scheme based on 3D gestures created using a smartphone. Current approaches to 3D gesture authentication involve using spline interpolation functions to compare similarities of a gesture. These approaches ignore important gesture characteristics such as acceleration and gesture speed. In order to address this, my project implements Dynamic Time Warping to compare 3D gestures and also intends to run a speed similarity check. Dynamic Time Warping allows us measure similarity between two gestures irrespective of their speed. The addition of a speed similarity check incorporates necessary behavioral characteristics into the authentication scheme thereby decreasing likelihood of the gesture being easily replicated by an attacker. Each user would have a unique method of replicating a given gesture and therefore would add to the complexity of a given 3D gesture. This report explains the working, drawbacks and possible applications of the developed system.