This invention relates to a method for authenticating a user with a password on multiple devices. In particular, the invention relates to a method for authenticating a user having a password based on procedural memory.
Computer networks are frequently subjected to undesired intrusions by third parties who do not have approval to use the network. To reduce the chance of unapproved access, security systems that authenticate the user have been developed. These systems usually require a person attempting to use the network to enter some type of password. Typically, these passwords are combination of letters and numbers are entered by the user and compared against a password stored on a server.
For a password to be effective, it needs to have a large number of characters, typically more than six, and not be composed of ordinary words or names. In general, the longer the password, the more secure it is. If the user has a password that is composed of ordinary words or names, it may be subject to attack by tools that automatically scan through words in the dictionary in an attempt to guess the password. Thus, a desired password will be long in length and composed of seemingly random letters and number. Unfortunately, this is also the type of password that most users have a difficult time remembering.
As electronic devices, such as computers, personal digital devices, cellular phones, voicemail systems and the like have proliferated, the number of passwords a person must remember has also greatly increased. Inevitably, the user needs to have a different password on each system since the input devices are different. Further, writing down the password is discouraged since the writing may be discovered. This leaves the users with the difficult task of remembering a wide variety of passwords in order to access systems on a daily basis.
While current methods for authenticating users on computer systems are suitable for their intended purposes, there exists a need for improvements in allowing users to use a same password on multiple devices having different input mechanisms.