  Locimetric authentication is a form of graphical authentication where users
validate their identity by selecting predetermined points on a predetermined
image. Its primary advantage over the ubiquitous text-based approach stems from
users' superior ability to remember visual information over textual
information, coupled with the authentication process being transformed to one
requiring recognition (instead of recall). Ideally, these differentiations
enable users to create more complex passwords, which theoretically are more
secure. Yet, locimetric authentication has one significant weakness, hot-spots,
that is, areas in an image that users gravitate towards and consequently have a
higher probability of being selected. This paper investigates whether the
hot-spot problem persists with high-resolution images, as well as whether user
characteristics and password length play a role. Our findings confirm the
presence of hot-spots in high-resolution images, thus influencing the
locimetric authentication scheme's effectiveness. Furthermore, we find that
neither user characteristics (such as age, gender, and income) nor password
length radically influence their extent. We conclude by proposing strategies to
mitigate the hot-spot phenomenon.
