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We were pleased to learn that our survey of graphical passwords has been accepted for publication in ACM Computing Surveys. It will appear in issue 44(4).

Title: Graphical Passwords: Learning from the First Twelve Years
Abstract:
Starting around 1999, a great many graphical password schemes have been proposed as alternatives to text-based password authentication. We provide a comprehensive overview of published research in the area, covering both usability and security aspects, as well as system evaluation. The paper first catalogues existing approaches, highlighting novel features of selected schemes and identifying key usability or security advantages. We then review usability requirements for knowledge-based authentication as they apply to graphical passwords, identify security threats that such systems must address and review known attacks, discuss methodological issues related to empirical evaluation, and identify areas for further research and improved methodology.

Several Carleton security and usable security researchers attended Financial Cryptography ‘11 in St. Lucia.  We were pleasantly surprised to see that several of the papers addressed human factors and usable security. Our workshop on Authentication was well-attended and generated lots of questions and discussion between attendees and panelists.  The workshop included invited talks by Cormac Herley, Steven Bellovin, and Robert Biddle.