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With EyePassword, a gaze-based interface, users need only to look at the numbers on the keyboard to enter their password. Researchers say that this technique makes it much more difficult for spies to determine passwords from over your shoulder.

The system, developed by Stanford University researcher Manu Kumar and his colleagues, shines an infrared beam on the user's face (invisible to the human eye). The beam produces a reflection in their eye for tracking purposes; as the pupils move, the stationary reflected beam is contrasted with the pupils' movement, which is tracked by a camera.

In experiments, the system demonstrated a 97% success rate, which is similar to using a keyboard. But the time was a bit slower: it took users an average of 10 seconds to visually enter their passwords, compared with 2.5 seconds for manual entering. Overall, though, users preferred the gaze-based technique above the conventional approach.

If I ever come across an EyePassword system at an ATM, I'll be glad I know a little bit about how it works. Otherwise, I'd think it'd feel a little like the computer was reading my mind. Scary.

Lisa Zyga
Science Blogger
InventorSpot.com

via: New Scientist Tech
Images by Manu Kumar