Physical Password Breaking via Thermal Sequence Analysis | IEEE Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplore

Physical Password Breaking via Thermal Sequence Analysis


Abstract:

The thermal camera can capture keyboard surface temperature change after a human's touch. This phenomenon may be used to steal users' passwords physically. In this paper,...Show More

Abstract:

The thermal camera can capture keyboard surface temperature change after a human's touch. This phenomenon may be used to steal users' passwords physically. In this paper, based on the study of thermal dynamics of keyboards, we design a password break system using an infrared thermal camera. First, we build a signal model to describe the dynamic process of temperature change on the keyboard using Newton's law of cooling. Next, we develop a maximum likelihood parameter estimation algorithm to estimate the keystroke time instants. Then, by maximizing the probability of key order arrangement, a novel password breaking algorithm is developed. Our algorithm is tested using simulated data as well as real-world data. Experiment results show that our algorithm is effective for physical password breaking using thermal characteristics. Based on our results, we discuss strategies for password protection at the end.
Page(s): 1142 - 1154
Date of Publication: 31 August 2018

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I. Introduction

As development of modern techniques, people are having higher and higher risk to leak their private information. There are many occasions where the private information can be stolen. One situation is that attackers steal passwords by peeping a person’s password input action. As shown in some movies, experienced spies can use adhesive tapes to trace the user’s most frequently used keys. After trying several combinations of these keys, the spies have good chance to break into the system. However, in real-world conditions, it can be difficult to find out the correct order of the keys within the limited time. By studying how passwords may be stolen, we can find limitations of modern techniques, thus improving digital security for the users. In this paper, we investigate the keyboard thermal dynamic and present new physical password attack methods based on thermal information obtained from analysis of infrared videos.

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References

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