2-ROUND HYBRID PASSWORD SCHEME

The most common computer authentication method is to use alphanumerical usernames and passwords. This method has been shown to have significant drawbacks. They have problems such as being hard to remember, vulnerable to guessing, phishing, dictionary attack, key-logger, and social engineering. Researchers have come out with an alternate password scheme called graphical password where they tried to improve the security and avoid the weakness of conventional password. Psychological studies say that human can remember pictures better than text. But graphical password scheme also has several drawbacks like shoulder-surfing problem, more storage space required and hard to implement compared to text passwords. In this paper, we have suggested a hybrid authentication system combining graphical and text passwords. User authentication has been verified in two steps to increase the security. We believe that in our system, users will be able to select stronger passwords through better user interface design.