A comparison of password techniques

Abstract

A widely used access control mechanism is the password. Passwords are normally composed of a meaningful detail, such as a name of a person or a sequence of numbers such as birthdate. Any person attempting to gain unauthorized access to a system might need only to look at a personnel record or associate with the person holding the desired password in order to discover the password. Therefore, there is a compromise between user memorability and security of a system. Exploration into other methods of user authentication and access control is desired to discover a better alternative to the traditional password system. The alternative are system-generated passwords, pronounceable passwords, passphrases, cognitive passwords and authentication by word association. These methods are discussed and examined. The results from this study show that cognitive passwords and authentication by word association are superior to other methods in access control.