My thoughts are my password because my brain reactions are unique



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Your brain is an inexhaustible source of secure pbadwords – but you may not have to remember anything. Pbadwords and PINs with letters and numbers are relatively easy to hack, difficult to remember and generally unsafe. Biometrics is starting to take its place, fingerprints, facial recognition and digitization of the retina are becoming common, even in routine connections for computers, smartphones and other common devices.

They are safer because they are more difficult to simulate, but biometrics has a crucial vulnerability: a person has only one face, two retinas and 10 fingerprints. They represent pbadwords that can not be reset if they are compromised.

Like usernames and pbadwords, biometric identifiers are vulnerable to data breaches. In 2015, for example, the database containing fingerprints of 5.6 million US federal employees was violated. These people must not use their fingerprints to protect their devices, whether for personal use or at work. The next loophole could steal photographs or scan data from the retina, making these biometric data useless for security.

Our team has been working for years with collaborators from other institutions and has invented a new type of biometrics that is linked to a single human being and can be reset if necessary.

In the spirit

When a person looks at a picture or hears a piece of music, his brain reacts in a way that researchers or health professionals can measure to help electrical sensors. scalp. We have discovered that each person's brain responds differently to an external stimulus. Even if two people look at the same picture, the readings of their brain activity will be different.

This process is automatic and unconscious. control what response of the brain occurs. And whenever a person sees a photo of a particular celebrity, his brain reacts in the same way – though unlike any other.

We realized that this represented an opportunity for a unique combination that could serve as a "brain". pbadword. "It's not just a physical attribute of their body, like a fingerprint or the pattern of blood vessels in their retina." Instead, it's a blend of the person's unique biological brain structure. and his involuntary memory that determines how he responds to a particular stimulus.

Creating a Cerebral Pbadword

to a series of pictures .As well as the pbadwords are more secure if they include different types of characters – letters, numbers and punctuation – a brain pbadword is more secure if it includes brainwave readings from a person looking at a collection of d & rsquo; # 39; various images.

optimal brain pbadword.
Wenyao Xu, et al. CC BY-ND

To set the pbadword, the person would be authenticated in another way, for example when coming to work with a pbadport o u other identification document, or whose fingerprints or face are checked against existing records. Then the person put on a soft and comfortable hat or padded helmet with electrical sensors inside. A monitor would display, for example, a picture of a pig, Denzel Washington's face and the text "Call me Ishmael", opening phrase of Herman Meville's clbadic "Moby-Dick".

The sensors record the brain waves of the person. . As when registering a fingerprint for the Touch ID of an iPhone, several readings would be required to collect a complete initial record. Our research has confirmed that such a combination of images would evoke brainwave readings specific to one person and consistent from one connection attempt to another.

Later, to log in or access a building or secure room, the person put on the hat and watched the sequence of images. A computer system would then compare the brain waves to what was originally stored – and allow or deny access, depending on the results. It would take about five seconds, not much more than entering a pbadword or entering a PIN code on a numeric keypad.

After hacking

The real benefit of Brain pbadwords comes after the almost inevitable hacking of a login database. If a hacker enters the system by registering biometric templates or using electronics to counterfeit a person's brain signals, this information is no longer useful for security. A person can not change their face or their fingerprints, but they can also change their brain pbadword.

It is quite easy to otherwise authenticate a person's identity and ask him to set a new pbadword by looking at three new images – maybe this time with a photo d & A dog, a drawing of George Washington and a quote from Gandhi. Since these are different images of the initial pbadword, the brainwave patterns would also be different. Our research showed that the new brain pbadword would be very difficult for attackers to understand, even if they were trying to use old brainwave readings as a help.

Cerebral pbadwords can be reset to infinity because many photos and a wide range of combinations can be made from these images. There is no way to miss these enhanced biometric security measures.

Secure – and Safe

As researchers, we are aware that it can be worrisome, even worrying, that an employer or an Internet service uses authentication that reads brain activity. Part of our research has been figuring out how to take minimal steps to ensure reliable results – and adequate safety – without having to perform as many steps as a person might feel violated or concerned about the fact that they are not safe. a computer was trying to read his thoughts. [19659002] We initially tried to use 32 sensors on a person's head and found that the results were reliable. Then we progressively reduced the number of sensors to see the number really needed – and we found that we could get clear, secure results with only three sensors properly located.

Three electrodes located above the user's head are enough to detect. a brain pbadword.
Wenyao Xu and others CC BY-ND

This means that our detection device is so small that it can be inserted invisibly into a virtual reality hat or headset . This opens the door to many potential uses. For example, someone wearing smart headgear could easily unlock doors or computers with brain pbadwords. Our method could also make cars more difficult to fly – before starting, the driver should put on a hat and watch some images displayed on a dashboard screen.

Other ways open as new technologies emerge. Chinese online trading giant Alibaba recently unveiled a system to use virtual reality for shopping, including online shopping directly into the virtual reality environment. If the payment information is stored in the VR headset, anyone who
use it, or steal it, will be able to buy everything that is available. A headset that reads the brain waves of the user would make purchases, connections or physical access to sensitive areas much safer.

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