Neuromorphic and early warning behavior-based authentication for mobile devices

Finding the balance between security, privacy, and usability for mobile authentication has been an active area of research for the past several years. Many researchers have taken advantage of the availability of multiple sensors on mobile devices and have used these data to train classifiers to authenticate users. For example, implicit authentication algorithms have been developed based on behavior patterns identified from a combination of sensors including location, co-location, application usage, biometric measurements, continuity of interaction between the user and the phone, and possession of the phone [1,2,3,4,5]. Furthermore, the onboard sensors of mobile devices have previously been used to identify users based on touch [6] and fusions of touch and speech inputs [7]. However, a system utilizing low-power onboard electronics for anomaly detection and user classification is lacking. Here, we report on the performance of two subsystems tested in a controlled use scenario to classify and authenticate users of a mobile device. The overall system utilizes two subsystems for anomaly detection and user classification: (1) a neuromorphic chip for continuous, low-power, online monitoring and classification, and (2) an early warning system (EWS) algorithm for longer duration time-series behavioral and biometric classification.