Cormorant

Abstract

This paper presents the design and open source implementation of CORMORANT, an Android authentication framework able to increase usability and security of mobile authentication. It uses transparent behavioral and physiological biometrics like gait, face, voice, and keystrokes dynamics to continuously evaluate the user's identity without explicit interaction. Using signals like location, time of day, and nearby devices to assess the risk of unauthorized access, the required level of confidence in the user's identity is dynamically adjusted. Authentication results are shared securely, end-to-end encrypted using the Signal messaging protocol, with trusted devices to facilitate cross-device authentication for co-located devices, detected using Bluetooth low energy beacons. CORMORANT is able to reduce the authentication overhead by up to 97% compared to conventional knowledge-based authentication whilst increasing security at the same time. We share our perspective on some of the successes and shortcomings we encountered implementing and evaluating CORMORANT to hope to inform others working on similar projects. CCS CONCEPTS• Security and privacy → Multi-factor authentication; Usability in security and privacy; Biometrics.

Situating smartphones in daily life: Big Five traits and contexts associated with young adults’ smartphone use.

“…In terms of spatial context, our findings are in line with past research that found individuals more frequently engage with their phone when they are in non-home related settings (e.g., 56% greater sessions per unit of time in office settings as compared to home settings; Soikkeli, et al, 2011). Contrary to previous studies that found that phones are unlocked most frequently and used more intensively at home (Hintze et al, 2014), we found that the frequency of smartphone use was greater outside of the home. These divergent results may be explained by differences in the demographics of the samples studied, as well as gradual shifts in patterns of smartphone use over the years as the device becomes more embedded in daily life (e.g., becoming more common to frequently check but use the phone for shorter durations when outside the home).…”

“…Our focus on hourly use contrasts with past research that tends to report on rates of smartphone use on the daily level. For example, previous studies have estimated daily durations of smartphone use to be around 1.5 -2.5 hours (e.g., 101 to 143 minutes; Harari et al, 2020;Hintze et al, 2014;Oliver, 2010;Wagner et al, 2013) up to 4 hours per day (MacKay, 2019).…”