BLACKLISTING OF FREQUENTLY USED GESTURE PASSWORDS

• US 20120198529A1
• Filed: 11/21/2011
• Published: 08/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: THEIMER, Wolfgang Michael, BALON, Thomas, Wissmann, Pascal
• Granted Patent: US 8,615,793 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/6
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/36 by graphic or iconic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/46 by designing passwords or checking the strength of passwords

Abstract

A method of maintaining a blacklist for gesture-based passwords is provided. A data store of index values corresponding to gestures is maintained on a blacklist server. Upon receiving a new gesture based password, an electronic device converts the password to an index value and forwards that index value to the blacklist server. The blacklist server increases an occurrence of the received index value by one in a data store and if the increase results in a blacklist threshold being exceeded, the index value is inputted to the blacklist. A notification can be sent back to the electronic device if the forwarded index value is on the blacklist or is inputted to the blacklist.

Claims

1. A method for blacklisting gesture based passwords, the method for implementation on a blacklist server and comprising:

receiving an index value representing a gesture based password from an electronic device;

increasing an occurrence of the received index value by one in a data store of index values;

determining if increasing the occurrence of the received index value in the data store results in a blacklist threshold being exceeded; and

if the blacklist threshold is exceeded, updating a blacklist stored on the blacklist server to include the received index value.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the blacklist comprises only inputting the received index value to the blacklist if the received index value is missing from the blacklist.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of index values from an input interface to populate the data store; and

inputting the plurality of index values to the data store.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

for each index value inputted to the data store, determining if a number of the index values in the data store having a value within a threshold range of the received index value exceeds a blacklist threshold and if the number exceeds the blacklist threshold, adding the received index value to a blacklist stored on the blacklist server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if increasing the occurrence of the received index value results in exceeding the blacklist threshold comprises determining if a number of the index values in the data store having a value within a threshold range of the received index value exceeds the blacklist threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining if increasing the occurrence of the received index value results in a blacklist threshold being exceeded comprises determining if inputting the received threshold value results in a weight of a corresponding neuron in a self-organizing map exceeding a weight threshold.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a self-organising map of neurons, the neurons representing input vectors corresponding to gestures.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein creating the self-organising map comprises:

receiving a plurality of gestures, each gesture being received multiple times at the same frequency as the other gestures;

converting each of the plurality of gestures into an input vector;

for each input vector, adapting a weight of a closest neuron in a direction of the input vector.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein creating the self-organising map comprises:

receiving a plurality of gestures, each gesture being received multiple times at the same frequency as the other gestures;

converting each stroke of the plurality of gestures into an input vector;

for each input vector, adapting a weight of a closest neuron in a direction of the input vector.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising assigning an index value to each neuron.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising transmitting a copy of the self-organising map to the electronic device.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the blacklist threshold is exceeded, transmitting a notification to the electronic device indicating that the gesture based password is blacklisted.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user identifier associated with the received index value; and

storing the user identifier in the data store in association with the received index value.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the index value is a similarity-preserving index value.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the index value is a non-invertible similarity-preserving index value.

16. A method for implementation on an electronic device for updating a blacklist stored on a blacklist server:

receiving a gesture based password via an input interface;

converting the gesture based password into an index value; and

transmitting the index value to a blacklist server.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving an indication from the blacklist server of whether or not the index value corresponds to a blacklisted gesture.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving a self-organising map (SOM) from the blacklist server, the SOM including neurons, the neurons representing input vectors corresponding to gestures;

converting at least one gesture of the password into an input vector; and

mapping the input vector to the SOM,

wherein converting the gesture based password into the index value comprises assigning an index value corresponding to a neuron of the SOM closest to the input vector.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising outputting a notice to a user interface indicating that a new password must be selected if the index value corresponds to a blacklisted gesture.

20. One or more computer readable media having computer readable instructions stored thereon that when executed by a processor implement a method for blacklisting gesture based passwords, the method for implementation on a blacklist server and comprising:

receiving an index value representing a gesture based password from an electronic device;

increasing an occurrence of the received index value by one in a data store of index values;

determining if increasing the occurrence of the received index value in the data store results in a blacklist threshold being exceeded; and

if the blacklist threshold is exceeded, updating a blacklist stored on the blacklist server to include the received index value.