Real-world tests have shown that gait authentication could be a viable means of protecting smartphones and other mobile devices from cyber crime, according to new research.
A study led by the University of Plymouth asked smartphone users to go about their daily activities while motion sensors within their mobile devices captured data about their stride patterns.
The results showed the system was on average around 85% accurate in recognising an individual's gait, with that figure rising to almost 90% when they were walking normally and fast walking.
There are currently more than 6.3 billion smartphone users around the world, using their devices to provide a wide range of services and to store sensitive and confidential information.
While authentication mechanisms - such as passwords, PINs and biometrics - exist, studies have shown the level of security and usability of such approaches varies considerably.
Nathan Clarke, Professor of Cyber Security and Digital Forensics at the University of Plymouth, who has recently been made a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Information Security, said:
- The full study - Al-Obaidi et al., Real-world smartphone-based gait recognition - is published in Computers & Security, DOI: 10.1016/j.cose.2021.102557.
