CAPTCHAs with chaos: Strong protection for weak passwords
Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 16:31
in Mathematics & Economics
The passwords of the future could become more secure and, at the same time, simpler to use. Researchers have been inspired by the physics of critical phenomena in their attempts to significantly improve password protection. The researchers split a password into two sections. With the first, easy-to-memorize section they encrypt a CAPTCHA -- an image that computer programs have difficulty in deciphering. The researchers also make it more difficult for computers, whose task it is to automatically crack passwords, to read the passwords without authorization. They use images of a simulated physical system, which they additionally make unrecognizable with a chaotic process.