The Coin Passcode: A Shoulder-Surfing Proof Graphical Password Authentication Model for Mobile Devices

Swiftness, simplicity, and security is crucial for mobile device authentication. Currently, most mobile devices are protected by a six pin numerical passcode authentication layer which is extremely vulnerable to Shoulder-Surfing attacks and Spyware attacks. This paper proposes a multi-elemental graphical password authentication model for mobile devices that are resistant to shoulder surfing attacks and spyware attacks. The proposed Coin Passcode model simplifies the complex user interface issues that previous graphical password models have, which work as a swift passcode security mechanism for mobile devices. The Coin Passcode model also has a high memorability rate compared to the existing numerical and alphanumerical passwords, as psychology studies suggest that human are better at remembering graphics than words. The results shows that the Coin Passcode is able to overcome the current shoulder-surfing and spyware attack vulnerability that existing mobile application numerical passcode authentication layers suffer from.