AN INVESTIGATION OF KEYPAD INTERFACE SECURITY
Keypad interfaces are popular input devices for a wide variety of systems. Automatic teller machines (ATMs), point-of-sale (POS) and process control systems are just some of the applications to which these interfaces have been put. However, these systems are protected with security procedures that are substantially less sophisticated than their data processing counterparts. A theory of the search of associative memory is used to anticipate what subjects will choose for passwords or personal identification numbers (PIN). A labortory experiment to understand how users create passwords for system access indicates that they create words or phrases when prompted for passwords and number patterns when asked for PINs. Also, when users are given visual prompting of a numeric keypad, they create longer passwords or PINs than when there is no prompt. This indicates that security can be improved by asking users to create passwords and providing users with a keypad.
keypad automatic teller machine passwords personal identification numbers computer security point of sale