Users' Perceptions of Recognition-Based Graphical Passwords: A Qualitative Study on Culturally Familiar Graphical Passwords

In user authentication, alphanumeric passwords suffer from several weaknesses. They are hard to remember if they have been created from a random mix of letters and numbers. Recognition-based graphical passwords were proposed to increase memorability and to facilitate user authentication. Several graphical password schemes were introduced and examined for their usability and security. However, there is gap in studying users' perceptions of such schemes, which reveals the need to improve the general performance of graphical passwords. This paper describes the interviews conducted with the users of graphical passwords from our previous study [1]. The interviews provided valuable information about the users' reasons for choosing certain pictures for their graphical passwords, the reasons for their having successful or failed authentication, their opinions about the security of graphical passwords, and their general impressions about using graphical passwords instead of alphanumeric ones. The analysis of the interviews resulted in a list of usability and security guidelines for developers and users of recognition-based graphical passwords.