METHODS FOR INCREASING AUTHENTICATION SECURITY

• US 20200134166A1
• Filed: 10/31/2018
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Hassan, Amer A., Giaimo, III, Edward C., Chen, Wei-Chen
• Granted Patent: US 10,956,558 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/45 Structures or tools for the administration of authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/46 by designing passwords or checking the strength of passwords
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/566 Dynamic detection, i.e. detection performed at run-time, e.g. emulation, suspicious activities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/083 using passwords cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0846 using time-dependent-passwords, e.g. periodically changing passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity

Abstract

Methods and systems for authenticating a user account based on a password are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes receiving input defining a sequence of characters included in an entered password, ignoring characters between a first position in the sequence of characters and a second position in the sequence of characters, and validating the password based on non-ignored characters in the sequence of characters.

Claims

1. An apparatus for validating a password, comprising:

hardware processing circuitry;

a hardware memory storing instructions that when executed configure the hardware processing circuitry to perform operations comprising;

receiving input defining a sequence of characters included in an entered password;

ignoring characters between a first position in the sequence of characters and a second position in the sequence of characters; and

validating the password based on non-ignored characters in the sequence of characters.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first position and the second position are static positions defined by configuration data.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, the operations further comprising identifying the first position based on at least two repeating characters in the sequence of characters.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, the operations further comprising determining the first position based on a date or a time of day.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, the operations further comprising obtaining a location of the device, and determining the first position based on the location.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, the operations further comprising evaluating a regular expression on the sequence of characters to identify the first position.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, the operations further comprising evaluating a second regular expression on the sequence of characters to identify the second position.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, the operations further comprising:

storing the ignored characters,

receiving second input from the device defining a second sequence of characters included in a second password;

ignoring second characters of the second sequence of characters;

determining a similarity between the stored ignored characters and the second characters; and

failing a validation of the second password in response to the similarity meeting a criterion.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, f the operations further comprising:

storing the first position;

receiving second input from the device defining a second sequence of characters included in a second password;

determining a third position in the second sequence of characters;

ignoring characters in the second sequence of characters based on the third position;

comparing the first position to the third position; and

failing a validation of the second password in response to the first and third positions being equivalent.

10. A method performed by a data processing system to validate a password, comprising:

receiving input defining a sequence of characters included in an entered password;

ignoring characters between a first position in the sequence of characters and a second position in the sequence of characters; and

validating the password based on non-ignored characters in the sequence of characters.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first position and the second position are static positions defined by configuration data.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising identifying the first position based on at least two repeating characters in the sequence of characters.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining the first position based on a date or a time of day.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising obtaining a location of the device, and determining the first position based on the location.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising evaluating a regular expression on the sequence of characters to identify the first position.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising evaluating a second regular expression on the sequence of characters to identify the second position.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

storing the ignored characters,

receiving second input from the device defining a second sequence of characters included in a second password;

ignoring second characters of the second sequence of characters;

determining a similarity between the stored ignored characters and the second characters; and

failing a validation of the second password in response to the similarity meeting a criterion.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

storing the first position;

receiving second input from the device defining a second sequence of characters included in a second password;

determining a third position in the second sequence of characters;

ignoring characters in the second sequence of characters based on the third position;

comparing the first position to the third position; and

failing a validation of the second password in response to the first and third positions being equivalent.

19. An apparatus for validating a password, comprising:

means for receiving input defining a sequence of characters included in an entered password;

means for ignoring characters between a first position in the sequence of characters and a second position in the sequence of characters; and

means for validating the password based on non-ignored characters in the sequence of characters.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising means for identifying the first position based on at least two repeating characters in the sequence of characters.