Awase-E: Recognition-based Image Authentication Scheme Using Users' Personal Photographs

In this paper, we propose a recognition-based image authentication system, named "Awase-E". There are two unique features in the system. One is to use users' personal photographs as their secret information. The other is that the system introduces a "no answer" case in a verification of an authentication trial. We developed an Web-base prototype system and conducted exploratory experiments to determine the memorability of this secret information. As a result of the experiments, we determined that the memorability of the secret information in Awase-E is almost the same as the memorability of a PIN number, even over a long period of time with infrequent use. Moreover, even after users are forced to update their secret information, they can pass the authentication without forgetting the secret information or confusing the old and new secret information. We also present a comparison between Awase-E and PIN authentication regarding both security and usability, and we indicate that the Awase-E has potential to become a reasonable candidate as an alternative to PIN authentication