PassMap is a map-based graphical password method of

authentication Authentication (from ''authentikos'', "real, genuine", from αὐθέντης ''authentes'', "author") is the act of proving an assertion, such as the identity of a computer system user. In contrast with identification, the act of indicatin ...

, similar to

password A password, sometimes called a passcode (for example in Apple devices), is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of ...

s, proposed by

National Tsing Hua University National Tsing Hua University (NTHU; ) is a public research university in Hsinchu City, Taiwan. National Tsing Hua University was first founded in Beijing. After the Chinese Civil War, the then-president of the university, Mei Yiqi, and othe ...

researchers. The word PassMap originates from the word password by substituting ''word'' with ''map''.

History and usage

PassMap was proposed by

researchers Hung-Min Sun, Yao-Hsin Chen, Chiung-Cheng Fang, and Shih-Ying Chang at the 7th Association for Computing Machinery Symposium on Information, Computer and Communications Security. They defined PassMap as letting a consumer get authenticated by choosing a series of points on a big

world map A world map is a map of most or all of the surface of Earth. World maps, because of their scale, must deal with the problem of projection. Maps rendered in two dimensions by necessity distort the display of the three-dimensional surface of th ...

. Their study showed that for people, PassMap passwords are more user-friendly and memorable. Users are shown

Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets ( Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and rou ...

on their screen, through which they can zoom in to choose any two points they want to become their PassMap password. Since PassMap uses Google Maps, it cannot be used in applications that lack Internet access or Google Maps integration. By default, PassMap's screen is set to the eighth zoom level and is centered on

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. PassMap has no constraints on the zoom level, so consumers are allowed to select dots at unsafer, lower levels, like level 8. It does not normalize error tolerance based on a screen's zoom position. PassMap's effective login percentage is 92.59%.

Commentary

Ritika Sachdev wrote in the ''International Journal of Pure and Applied Research in Engineering and Technology'' that based on psychological studies, people can effortlessly recall the milestones they have visited. Sachdev called PassMap a "highly subjective or customized based password to ensure security". S. Rajarajan, M. Prabhu, and S. Palanivel praised PassMap for having "good memorability due to the usage of map for the password mechanism". But they noted that, like many graphical passwords, PassMap is susceptible to a shoulder surfing intrusion.

References

{{reflist Password authentication