A Plymouth University study showed that gait verification, integrated into smartphones, can be a great 'spice' to protect mobile devices.
Worldwide, more than 6.3 billion people use smartphones. Although authentication mechanisms - such as passwords, PINs and biometrics - exist, studies have shown that the degree of security and usability of such approaches varies considerably.
New research, conducted at Plymouth University, has shown that gait verification can be a sustainable tool to protect smartphones and other mobile devices from cybercrime.
A study by the University Center for Cyber Security, Communications, and Network Research, published in Computers & Security, illustrates that - within an appropriate framework - walking recognition can be a workable technique for protecting individuals and their data. from potential crime.
Namely, as the research showed, the system recognized the gait of individuals in 85% of cases, with that number increasing to almost 90% when they were walking at normal or fast speeds.
Data were collected over seven to ten days using a gyroscope and accelerometer, and each study participant generated an average of 4,000 activity samples, from normal and brisk walking to climbing and descending stairs.