Understanding Authentication Method Use on Mobile Devices by People with Vision Impairment

Abstract

Passwords help people avoid unauthorized access to their personal devices but are not without challenges, like memorability and shoulder surfing attacks. Little is known about how people with vision impairment assure their digital security in mobile contexts. We conducted an online survey to understand their strategies to remember passwords, their perceptions of authentication methods and their self-assessed ability to keep their digital information safe. We collected answers from 325 people who are blind or have low vision from 12 countries and found: most use familiar names and numbers to create memorable passwords, the majority consider fingerprint to be the most secure and accessible user authentication method and PINs the least secure user authentication method. This paper presents our survey results and provides insights for designing better authentication methods for people with vision impairment.

Bend Passwords for People with Vision Impairment

“…Our findings are mainly due to the fact that our participants, who were blind or had low vision, used the smartphone with accessibility features, which slowed them down. In fact, being slow to enter is actually one of the things users dislike about PINs, as previously found [29].…”

“…We also found PIN is considered the least secure and one of the least accessible user authentication methods for mobile devices, although it is the most commonly used in smartphones. Our conclusion with our online survey is that a truly accessible solution for vision-impaired people should not require precise manipulation of visual items, the use of the users' eyes or the use of keyboards with screen magnifiers [29].…”

“…From our online survey [29], we found that most people with vision impairment consider PINs the least secure user authentication method for smartphones and people who have low vision consider it one of the most inaccessible methods; although PIN is the most common method, required even when biometrics methods are available. We also found that the complexity of existing user authentication is one of the reasons for some people not to use any of them, leaving their smartphones completely unprotected.…”

“…Considering PINs are the main user authentication method in most smartphones, even though people with vision impairment consider it one of the least secure user authentication methods [29], we opted to compare PINs to bend passwords in our user study. This way we also follow the methodology used by Maqsood et al [68], and compare two user authentication methods of the same type (knowledge-based).…”

“…In order to compare bend passwords to PINs, and considering most people with vision impairment use iPhones [29], we used an iPhone 6S to receive PINs ( Figure 17). As an iOS smartphone, the iPhone has standard accessibility features including screen magnifier and screen reader VoiceOver.…”