‘Pressure Sequence’-A Novel Method of Protecting Smart Cards

Abstract

If someone knocks on your door, the chances are that you can tell by the sound who it is. This simple idea is the basis of our pressure sequence method, which records the signal arising from a user tapping on a smart card. We have built a prototype, piezoelectric, screen printed pressure sensor on a smart card. We have also conducted an experiment with 34 volunteers to assess the effectiveness of the pressure sequence as an identification method. While the Equal-Error Rate (EER) of our current system is too high, we have identified a number of improvements that will lower the EER and make the identification more accurate. The sensor and associated circuitry are inexpensive, making it feasible to embed our technique in medium to high-end smart cards.