A Critical appraisal on Password based Authentication

Abstract

There is no doubt that, even after the development of many other authentication schemes, passwords remain one of the most popular means of authentication. A review in the field of password based authentication is addressed, by introducing and analyzing different schemes of authentication, respective advantages and disadvantages, and probable causes of the ‘very disconnect’ between user and password mechanisms. The evolution of passwords and how they have deep-rooted in our life is remarkable. This paper addresses the gap between the user and industry perspectives of password authentication, the state of art of password authentication and how the most investigated topic in password authentication changed over time. The author’s tries to distinguish password based authentication into two levels ‘User Centric Design Level’ and the ‘Machine Centric Protocol Level’ under one framework. The paper concludes with the special section covering the ways in which password based authentication system can be strengthened on the issues which are currently holding-in the password based authentication.