Shoulder-Surfing Resistant Authentication for VR/AR

The field of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) is experiencing rapid technological advancement and increasing prevalence. As these devices are also used for sensitive data, a secure authentication mechanism is required. Due to the way one interacts with VR/AR, which is primarily through hand gestures, shoulder surfing represents a significant threat. This is because a bystander could observe the movements and attempt to reconstruct the password based on this information. To address this issue and others, it is important to investigate suitable secure and usable authentication mechanisms for VR and AR devices.

Research Questions

Some interesting research questions that will be or already have been (partly) answered are:

  • What are the essential requirements of a shoulder-surfing resistant authentication scheme for VR/AR?
  • What is the current state of VR/AR authentication research?
  • How do users perceive the usability of different authentication schemes and which one do they prefer?

VR/AR-Demonstrators
  • Graphical Authentication in AR: Demonstrates how graphical authentication can be used in AR. Instead of passwords, users authenticate with the help of a secret, consisting of different images of objects.
  • Shoulder-Surfing Resistent Authentication in VR: Presentation of different knowledge-based authentication schemes both graphical and PIN based.
  • Risk-based Authentication Using Brainwave Biometrics: This demonstrator shows how brainwave authentication enhances the VR experience during routine tasks while securing critical actions, such as payments via graphical passwords.
Some of our most relevant own publications:






Legals