Search

Faced with the terrible spread of electronic attacks and intrusions, which tend to increase, securing computer systems has become an urgent necessity for enterprises. In this work, we are interested in a very specific security problem, which is the identity theft of business experts that causes major problems for the company, such as loss of money, fraud, information leakage, customer distrust of using the enterprise's services, etc. The implementation of an implicit authentication system based on the study of the expert behavior is a very effective way to fight this problem. The objective of this work is to propose a system dedicated to business experts, which will be able to detect impostors and false profiles during the authentication phase and during the negotiation phase in a continuous manner. The proposed system relies on machine learning algorithms, behavioral authentication, the keystroke dynamics of real experts and their behaviors during the negotiation phase, as well as their ways of interacting with the application, in order to prevent imposters to infiltrate the system by trying to login with the account of a real expert. So, we followed the following steps: Data acquisition, Criteria extraction, Model creation and Storage. We Have used three machine learning algorithms, which are: K Nearest Neighbor, Random Forest and Logistic Regression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a debilitating neurodegenerative condition leading to progressive muscle weakness, atrophy, and ultimately death. Traditional ALS clinical evaluations often depend on subjective metrics, making accurate disease detection and monitoring disease trajectory challenging. To address these limitations, we developed the nQiALS toolkit, a machine learning-powered system that leverages smartphone typing dynamics to detect and track motor impairment in people with ALS. The study included 63 ALS patients and 30 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. We introduce the three core components of this toolkit: the nQiALS-Detection, which differentiated ALS from healthy typing patterns with an AUC of 0.89; the nQiALS-Progression, which separated slow and fast progression at specific thresholds with AUCs ranging between 0.65 and 0.8; and the nQiALS-Fine Motor, which identified subtle progression in fine motor dysfunction, suggesting earlier prediction than the state-of-the-art assessment. Together, these tools represent an innovative approach to ALS assessment, offering a complementary, objective metric to traditional clinical methods and which may reshape our understanding and monitoring of ALS progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

User authentication is an important process that ensures only authorized individuals can access a system or network infrastructure. This process protects users' sensitive information from unauthorized access and prevents any unwanted tampering. In this research paper, a unique method for authenticating users based on typing dynamics has been proposed, aimed to enhance the security of systems and networks by verifying user identities. This method involves calculating the period of time each key is pressed and released. The study includes data collection, feature extraction, model training, and performance evaluation by measuring the accuracy and precision of the trained model. We evaluated three deep-learning models to test the proposed method and determine its accuracy, precision, and superiority among the three models. Based on the findings of this research, we are able to present an algorithm which outperforms the other two considered for the experiment. Also, a comparative study is been presented after the first evaluation which involves assessing the accuracies for different lengths of the password. Additionally, charts and graphs were carefully employed to ensure precise representation and effective visualization of the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a debilitating neurodegenerative condition leading to progressive muscle weakness, atrophy, and ultimately death. Traditional ALS clinical evaluations often depend on subjective metrics, making accurate disease detection and monitoring disease trajectory challenging. To address these limitations, we developed the nQiALS toolkit, a machine learning-powered system that leverages smartphone typing dynamics to detect and track motor impairment in people with ALS. The study included 63 ALS patients and 30 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. We introduce the three core components of this toolkit: the nQiALS-Detection, which differentiated ALS from healthy typing patterns with an AUC of 0.89; the nQiALS-Progression, which separated slow and fast progression at specific thresholds with AUCs ranging between 0.65 and 0.8; and the nQiALS-Fine Motor, which identified subtle progression in fine motor dysfunction, suggesting earlier prediction than the state-of-the-art assessment. Together, these tools represent an innovative approach to ALS assessment, offering a complementary, objective metric to traditional clinical methods and which may reshape our understanding and monitoring of ALS progression.

In today’s cyber environment, threats such as data breaches, cyberattacks, and unauthorized access threaten national security, critical infrastructure, and financial stability. This research addresses the challenging task of protecting critical infrastructure from insider threats because of the high level of trust and access these individuals typically receive. Insiders may obtain a system administrator’s password through close observation or by deploying software to gather the information. To solve this issue, an innovative artificial intelligence-based methodology is proposed to identify a user by their password’s keystroke dynamics. This paper also introduces a new Gabor Filter Matrix Transformation method to transform numerical values into images by revealing the behavioral pattern of password typing. A siamese neural network (SNN) with the branches of convolutional neural networks is utilized for image comparison, aiming to detect unauthorized attempts to access critical infrastructure systems. The network analyzes the unique features of a user’s password timestamps transformed into images and compares them with previously submitted user passwords. The obtained results indicate that transforming the numerical values of keystroke dynamics into images and training an SNN leads to a lower equal error rate (EER) and higher user authentication accuracy than those previously reported in other studies. The methodology is validated on publicly available keystroke dynamics collections, the CMU and GREYC-NISLAB datasets, which collectively comprise over 30,000 password samples. It achieves the lowest EER value of 0.04545 compared to state-of-the-art methods for transforming non-image data into images. The paper concludes with a discussion of findings and potential future directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

User-generated passwords often pose a security risk in authentication systems. However, providing a comparative substitute poses a challenge, given the common tradeoff between security and user experience. This paper integrates cryptographic methods (both asymmetric and symmetric), steganography, and a combination of physiological and behavioural biometrics to construct a prototype for a passwordless authentication system. We demonstrate the feasibility of scalable passwordless authentication while maintaining a balance between usability and security. We employ threat modeling techniques to pinpoint the security prerequisites for the system, along with choosing appropriate cryptographic protocols. In addition, a comparative analysis is conducted, examining the security impacts of the proposed system in contrast to that of traditional password-based systems. The results from the prototype indicate that authentication is possible within a timeframe similar to passwords (within 2 s), without imposing additional hardware costs on users to enhance security or compromising usability. Given the scalable nature of the system design and the elimination of shared secrets, the financial and efficiency burdens associated with password resets are alleviated. Furthermore, the risk of breaches is mitigated as there is no longer a need to store passwords and/or their hashes. Differing from prior research, our study presents a pragmatic design and prototype that deserves consideration as a viable alternative for both password-based and passwordless authentication systems.

To counteract the development of criminal activity, law enforcement agencies need to employ new technologies. However, the current models of such implementation provide neither competitive advantage nor forensic efficiency. This article describes the existing models of integrating advanced technologies into law enforcement practice, as well as ways of their optimization. The paper considers the best practices and related risks. The authors relied on standard cognition methods and modeling to develop four key models of integrating modern technologies into crime investigation activities, i.e., 1) legislative consolidation, 2) implementation after the effectiveness has been experimentally verified, 3) departmental regulation, 4) independent initiative implementation. Each model demonstrated a number of advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, they proved legal, effective, rational, and based on actual threats and risks. On the other hand, the legislative consolidation process is long: as a result, participants in criminal proceedings risk their rights. Moreover, no objective effectiveness assessment can be provided while scientific recommendations do not correlate with actual practice. The authors proposed a comprehensive model that can adapt to a particular technology. The model presupposes coordinated actions of scientists, practitioners, investigative authorities, and legislators. The article also introduces an algorithm that increases the effectiveness of forensic activities.

In an era marked by escalating concerns about digital security, biometric identification methods have gained paramount importance. Despite the increasing adoption of biometric techniques, keystroke dynamics analysis remains a less explored yet promising avenue. This study highlights the untapped potential of keystroke dynamics, emphasizing its non-intrusive nature and distinctiveness. While keystroke dynamics analysis has not achieved widespread usage, ongoing research indicates its viability as a reliable biometric identifier. This research builds upon the existing foundation by proposing an innovative deep-learning methodology for keystroke dynamics-based identification. Leveraging open research datasets, our approach surpasses previously reported results, showcasing the effectiveness of deep learning in extracting intricate patterns from typing behaviors. This article contributes to the advancement of biometric identification, shedding light on the untapped potential of keystroke dynamics and demonstrating the efficacy of deep learning in enhancing the precision and reliability of identification systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Przegląd Elektrotechniczny is the property of Przeglad Elektrotechniczny and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

User-generated passwords often pose a security risk in authentication systems. However, providing a comparative substitute poses a challenge, given the common tradeoff between security and user experience. This paper integrates cryptographic methods (both asymmetric and symmetric), steganography, and a combination of physiological and behavioural biometrics to construct a prototype for a passwordless authentication system. We demonstrate the feasibility of scalable passwordless authentication while maintaining a balance between usability and security. We employ threat modeling techniques to pinpoint the security prerequisites for the system, along with choosing appropriate cryptographic protocols. In addition, a comparative analysis is conducted, examining the security impacts of the proposed system in contrast to that of traditional password-based systems. The results from the prototype indicate that authentication is possible within a timeframe similar to passwords (within 2 s), without imposing additional hardware costs on users to enhance security or compromising usability. Given the scalable nature of the system design and the elimination of shared secrets, the financial and efficiency burdens associated with password resets are alleviated. Furthermore, the risk of breaches is mitigated as there is no longer a need to store passwords and/or their hashes. Differing from prior research, our study presents a pragmatic design and prototype that deserves consideration as a viable alternative for both password-based and passwordless authentication systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keystroke dynamics is one of the biometrics techniques that can be used for the verification of a human being. This work briefly introduces the history of biometrics and the state of the art in keystroke dynamics. Moreover, it presents an algorithm for human verification based on these data. In order to achieve that, authors' training and test sets were prepared and a reference dataset was used. The described algorithm is a classifier based on recurrent neural networks (LSTMand GRU). High accuracy without false positive errors as well as high scalability in terms of user count were chosen as goals. Some attempts were made to mitigate natural problems of the algorithm (e.g. generating artificial data). Experiments were performed with different network architectures. Authors assumed that keystroke dynamics data have sequence nature, which influenced their choice of classifier. They have achieved satisfying results, especially when it comes to false positive free setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research article delves into the development of a reinforcement learning (RL)-based continuous authentication system utilizing behavioral biometrics for user identification on computing devices. Keystroke dynamics are employed to capture unique behavioral biometric signatures, while a reward-driven RL model is deployed to authenticate users throughout their sessions. The proposed system augments conventional authentication mechanisms, fortifying them with an additional layer of security to create a robust continuous authentication framework compatible with static authentication systems. The methodology entails training an RL model to discern atypical user typing patterns and identify potentially suspicious activities. Each user's historical data are utilized to train an agent, which undergoes preprocessing to generate episodes for learning purposes. The environment involves the retrieval of observations, which are intentionally perturbed to facilitate learning of nonlinear behaviors. The observation vector encompasses both ongoing and summarized features. A binary and minimalist reward function is employed, with principal component analysis (PCA) utilized for encoding ongoing features, and the double deep Q-network (DDQN) algorithm implemented through a fully connected neural network serving as the policy net. Evaluation results showcase training accuracy and equal error rate (EER) ranging from 94.7% to 100% and 0 to 0.0126, respectively, while test accuracy and EER fall within the range of approximately 81.06% to 93.5% and 0.0323 to 0.11, respectively, for all users as encoder features increase in number. These outcomes are achieved through RL's iterative refinement of rewards via trial and error, leading to enhanced accuracy over time as more data are processed and incorporated into the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing keystroke dynamics (KD) for biometric verification has several advantages: it is among the most discriminative behavioral traits; keyboards are among the most common human-computer interfaces, being the primary means for users to enter textual data; its acquisition does not require additional hardware, and its processing is relatively lightweight; and it allows for transparently recognizing subjects. However, the heterogeneity of experimental protocols and metrics, and the limited size of the databases adopted in the literature impede direct comparisons between different systems, thus representing an obstacle in the advancement of keystroke biometrics. To alleviate this aspect, we present a new experimental framework to benchmark KD-based biometric verification performance and fairness based on tweet -long sequences of variable transcript text from over 185,000 subjects, acquired through desktop and mobile keyboards, extracted from the Aalto Keystroke Databases. The framework runs on CodaLab in the form of the Keystroke Verification Challenge (KVC). Moreover, we also introduce a novel fairness metric, the Skewed Impostor Ratio (SIR), to capture inter - and intra -demographic group bias patterns in the verification scores. We demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed framework by employing two state-of-the-art keystroke verification systems, TypeNet and TypeFormer, to compare different sets of input features, achieving a less privacy-invasive system, by discarding the analysis of text content (ASCII codes of the keys pressed) in favor of extended features in the time domain. Our experiments show that this approach allows to maintain satisfactory performance.

In the realm of global computer security, safeguarding sensitive data and computer systems stands as an ongoing challenge. Striking the delicate balance between convenient access for legitimate users and thwarting imposter attacks is imperative. Traditional authentication methods, primarily reliant on username and password schemes, have been the longstanding cornerstone of cyber system authentication. Yet, this conventional approach is marred by inherent vulnerabilities, including password exchange, shoulder surfng, brute force attacks, dictionary attacks, speculation, phishing, and emerging threats. In response to these shortcomings, biometrics technology has emerged as a reliable alternative for authentication and verification, with Keystroke Dynamics being a well-established method. This research advances Keystroke Dynamics-based authentication through cutting-edge technologies, including machine learning, deep learning, and neural networks. A quantitative assessment demonstrates remarkable results—Machine Learning achieves 99.9% accuracy with the Random Forest model, Deep Learning combines CNN with GRU to reach 99.31% accuracy, and the DBN model registers at 98.01%. In the realm of neural networks, Bi-CNN and FFM-NN excel, with accuracy rates of 96.8% and 94.7%, respectively. These findings lay the foundation for robust, secure authentication systems, ensuring the protection of sensitive data and computer assets in our interconnected world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As social media platforms continue to grow in popularity, ensuring the security and privacy of users' accounts has become a critical concern. Traditional authentication methods, such as passwords and PINs, are vulnerable to various attacks, including password guessing, phishing, and brute force attacks. To address these challenges, researchers have turned to keystroke dynamics as a promising solution. Keystroke dynamics, also known as keystroke biometrics, leverages the unique typing patterns and behavioral characteristics of individuals to authenticate their identities. This approach analyzes various keystroke attributes, such as key press duration, flight time, and typing rhythm, to create a user's unique typing profile. By continuously monitoring and comparing these patterns, social media platforms can verify the authenticity of users in real-time. This paper explores the potential of keystroke dynamics in enhancing security for social media users. It discusses the advantages of this approach, including its non-intrusive nature, continuous authentication capabilities, and resistance to common attacks. Additionally, the paper examines the challenges associated with implementing keystroke dynamics, such as user acceptance, system performance, and potential privacy concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of information and communication technologies and the widespread use of the Internet has made it imperative to implement advanced user authentication methods based on the analysis of behavioural biometric data. In contrast to traditional authentication techniques, such as the simple use of passwords, these new methods face the challenge of authenticating users at more complex levels, even after the initial verification. This is particularly important as it helps to address risks such as the possibility of forgery and the disclosure of personal information to unauthorised individuals. In this study, the use of keystroke dynamics has been chosen as a biometric, which is the way a user uses the keyboard. Specifically, a number of Bulgarian-speaking users have been recorded during their daily keyboard use, and then a system has been implemented which, with the help of machine learning models, recognises certain acquired or intrinsic characteristics in order to reveal part of their identity. The results show that users can be categorised using keystroke dynamics, in terms of the age group they belong to and in terms of their educational level, with high accuracy rates, which is a strong indication for the creation of applications to enhance user security and facilitate their use of Internet services.

The rapid development of information and communication technologies and the widespread use of the Internet has made it imperative to implement advanced user authentication methods based on the analysis of behavioural biometric data. In contrast to traditional authentication techniques, such as the simple use of passwords, these new methods face the challenge of authenticating users at more complex levels, even after the initial verification. This is particularly important as it helps to address risks such as the possibility of forgery and the disclosure of personal information to unauthorised individuals. In this study, the use of keystroke dynamics has been chosen as a biometric, which is the way a user uses the keyboard. Specifically, a number of Bulgarian-speaking users have been recorded during their daily keyboard use, and then a system has been implemented which, with the help of machine learning models, recognises certain acquired or intrinsic characteristics in order to reveal part of their identity. The results show that users can be categorised using keystroke dynamics, in terms of the age group they belong to and in terms of their educational level, with high accuracy rates, which is a strong indication for the creation of applications to enhance user security and facilitate their use of Internet services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keystroke dynamics is a soft biometric based on the assumption that humans always type in uniquely characteristic manners. Previous works mainly focused on analyzing the key press or release events. Unlike these methods, we explored a novel visual modality of keystroke dynamics for human identification using a single RGB-D sensor. In order to verify this idea, we created a dataset dubbed KD-MultiModal, which contains 243.2 K frames of RGB images and depth images, obtained by recording a video of hand typing with a single RGB-D sensor. The dataset comprises RGB-D image sequences of 20 subjects (10 males and 10 females) typing sentences, and each subject typed around 20 sentences. In the task, only the hand and keyboard region contributed to the person identification, so we also propose methods of extracting Regions of Interest (RoIs) for each type of data. Unlike the data of the key press or release, our dataset not only captures the velocity of pressing and releasing different keys and the typing style of specific keys or combinations of keys, but also contains rich information on the hand shape and posture. To verify the validity of our proposed data, we adopted deep neural networks to learn distinguishing features from different data representations, including RGB-KD-Net, D-KD-Net, and RGBD-KD-Net. Simultaneously, the sequence of point clouds also can be obtained from depth images given the intrinsic parameters of the RGB-D sensor, so we also studied the performance of human identification based on the point clouds. Extensive experimental results showed that our idea works and the performance of the proposed method based on RGB-D images is the best, which achieved 99.44 % accuracy based on the unseen real-world data. To inspire more researchers and facilitate relevant studies, the proposed dataset will be publicly accessible together with the publication of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keystroke dynamics is a biometric method that uses a subject's typing patterns for authentication or identification. In this paper we investigate typing language as a factor influencing an individual's keystroke dynamics. Specifically, we discern whether keystroke dynamics is contingent on the spatial arrangement of letters on the keyboard, or alternatively, whether it is influenced by the linguistic characteristics inherent to the language being used. For this purpose, we construct a new dataset called the Bilingual Keystroke Dynamics Dataset in two languages: English and Arabic. The results show that the authentication system is not contingent on the spatial arrangement of the letters, and is primarily influenced by the language being used, and a system that is used by bilingual users must take into account that each user should have two profiles created, one for each language. An average equal error rate of 0.486% was achieved when enrolling in English and testing on Arabic, and 0.475% when enrolling in Arabic and testing on English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keystroke authentication is a well-established biometric technique that has gained significant attention due to its non-intrusive and continuous characteristics. The method analyzes the unique typing patterns of individuals to verify their identity while interacting with the keyboard, both virtual and hardware. Current deep-learning approaches like TypeNet and TypeFormer focus on generating biometric signatures as embeddings for the entire typing sequence. The authentication process is defined using the Euclidean distances between the new typing embedding and the saved biometric signatures. This paper introduces a novel approach called DoubleStrokeNet for authenticating users through keystroke analysis using bigram embeddings. Unlike conventional methods, our model targets the temporal features of bigrams to generate user embeddings. This is achieved using a Transformer-based neural network that distinguishes between different bigrams. Furthermore, we employ self-supervised learning techniques to compute embeddings for both bigrams and users. By harnessing the power of the Transformer's attention mechanism, the DoubleStrokeNet approach represents a significant departure from existing methods. It allows for a more precise and accurate assessment of user authenticity, specifically emphasizing the temporal characteristics and latent representations of bigrams in deriving user embeddings. Our experiments were conducted using the Aalto University keystrokes datasets, which include 136 million keystrokes from 168,000 subjects using physical keyboards and 63 million keystrokes acquired on mobile devices from 60,000 subjects. The DoubleStrokeNet outperforms the TypeNet-based authentication system using 10 enrollment typing sequences, achieving Equal Error Rate (EER) values of 0.75% and 2.35% for physical and touchscreen keyboards, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proposed solution presented in this report aims to address the critical issue of stress detection and management among IT professionals. Our innovative approach leverages machine learning and consists of four key components, three of which actively monitor and analyze an individual's stress levels through their keystroke dynamics, heart rate variability (HRV) via an external mouse (utilizing cost-effective IOT devices), and facial expressions captured by a webcam. The fourth component focuses on providing tailored recommendations and suggestions to help users reduce their detected stress levels. Stress is a prevalent concern among IT professionals, with potential long-term repercussions on both physical and mental health. Recognizing the urgency of addressing this problem, our system facilitates early stress detection and offers practical strategies to mitigate and maintain stress at manageable levels. The ultimate goal is to enhance the overall work experience, minimize health complications, and boost productivity among IT professionals who utilize our user-friendly approach, which integrates seamlessly with their everyday tools and equipment. This holistic solution holds the promise of a healthier, happier, and more productive workforce in the IT industry. Furthermore, our system is designed to be scalable and adaptable to various IT environments, allowing organizations to tailor it to their specific needs and preferences. It can be seamlessly integrated into existing IT infrastructure, making it a cost-effective and efficient solution for companies seeking to prioritize the well-being of their IT professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report on PIN-code typing behaviour on touchscreen devices of 112 subjects. Detailed statistical analysis revealed that the major di erence between subjects is in inter-key latency. Key-press duration variations are insignificant compared to inter-key latency variations. Subjects were grouped into meaningful clusters using clustering. The resulting clusters were of slow, medium, and fast typists. The dataset was split randomly into two equal size subsets. The first subset was used to train different synthetic data generators, while the second subset was used to evaluate an authentication attack using the generated synthetic data. The evaluation showed that slow typists were the hardest to attack. Both the dataset and the software are publicly available at https://github.com/margitantal68/sapipin_paper.

Understanding the distinct characteristics of unidentified Internet users is helpful in various contexts, including digital forensics, targeted advertising, and user interaction with services and systems. Keystroke dynamics (KD) enables the analysis of data derived from a user’s typing behaviour on a keyboard as one approach to obtain such information. This study conducted experiments on a developed dataset that recorded samples of typing in five different mother tongues to determine Internet users’ mother tongue. Based on only a few KD features and machine learning techniques, 82% accuracy was achieved in recognising an unknown user’s mother tongue. This research highlights the potential for KD as a reliable method for identifying the mother tongue of Internet users, with implications for various applications such as improving digital forensic investigations, targeted advertising strategies, and optimising user experiences with online services.

In an era marked by escalating concerns about digital security, biometric identification methods have gained paramount importance. Despite the increasing adoption of biometric techniques, keystroke dynamics analysis remains a less explored yet promising avenue. This study highlights the untapped potential of keystroke dynamics, emphasizing its non-intrusive nature and distinctiveness. While keystroke dynamics analysis has not achieved widespread usage, ongoing research indicates its viability as a reliable biometric identifier. This research builds upon the existing foundation by proposing an innovative deep-learning methodology for keystroke dynamics-based identification. Leveraging open research datasets, our approach surpasses previously reported results, showcasing the effectiveness of deep learning in extracting intricate patterns from typing behaviors. This article contributes to the advancement of biometric identification, shedding light on the untapped potential of keystroke dynamics and demonstrating the efficacy of deep learning in enhancing the precision and reliability of identification systems.

This research article delves into the development of a reinforcement learning (RL)-based continuous authentication system utilizing behavioral biometrics for user identification on computing devices. Keystroke dynamics are employed to capture unique behavioral biometric signatures, while a reward-driven RL model is deployed to authenticate users throughout their sessions. The proposed system augments conventional authentication mechanisms, fortifying them with an additional layer of security to create a robust continuous authentication framework compatible with static authentication systems. The methodology entails training an RL model to discern atypical user typing patterns and identify potentially suspicious activities. Each user’s historical data are utilized to train an agent, which undergoes preprocessing to generate episodes for learning purposes. The environment involves the retrieval of observations, which are intentionally perturbed to facilitate learning of nonlinear behaviors. The observation vector encompasses both ongoing and summarized features. A binary and minimalist reward function is employed, with principal component analysis (PCA) utilized for encoding ongoing features, and the double deep Q-network (DDQN) algorithm implemented through a fully connected neural network serving as the policy net. Evaluation results showcase training accuracy and equal error rate (EER) ranging from 94.7% to 100% and 0 to 0.0126, respectively, while test accuracy and EER fall within the range of approximately 81.06% to 93.5% and 0.0323 to 0.11, respectively, for all users as encoder features increase in number. These outcomes are achieved through RL’s iterative refinement of rewards via trial and error, leading to enhanced accuracy over time as more data are processed and incorporated into the system.

Understanding the distinct characteristics of unidentified Internet users is helpful in various contexts, including digital forensics, targeted advertising, and user interaction with services and systems. Keystroke dynamics (KD) enables the analysis of data derived from a user's typing behaviour on a keyboard as one approach to obtain such information. This study conducted experiments on a developed dataset that recorded samples of typing in five different mother tongues to determine Internet users' mother tongue. Based on only a few KD features and machine learning techniques, 82% accuracy was achieved in recognising an unknown user's mother tongue. This research highlights the potential for KD as a reliable method for identifying the mother tongue of Internet users, with implications for various applications such as improving digital forensic investigations, targeted advertising strategies, and optimising user experiences with online services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses issues concerning secure authentication in computer systems. We focus on multi-factor authentication methods using two or more independent mechanisms to identify a user. User-specific behavioral biometrics is widely used to increase login security. The usage of behavioral biometrics can support verification without bothering the user with a requirement of an additional interaction. Our research aimed to check whether using information about how partial passwords are typed is possible to strengthen user authentication security. The partial password is a query of a subset of characters from a full password. The use of partial passwords makes it difficult for attackers who can observe password entry to acquire sensitive information. In this paper, we use a Siamese neural network and n-shot classification using past recent logins to verify user identity based on keystroke dynamics obtained from the static text. The experimental results on real data demonstrate that keystroke dynamics authentication can be successfully used for partial password typing patterns. Our method can support the basic authentication process and increase users' confidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bullying and cyberbullying are harmful social phenomena that involve the intentional, repeated use of power to intimidate or harm others. The ramifications of these actions are felt not just at the individual level but also pervasively throughout society, necessitating immediate attention and practical solutions. The BullyBuster project pioneers a multi-disciplinary approach, integrating artificial intelligence (AI) techniques with psychological models to comprehensively understand and combat these issues. In particular, employing AI in the project allows the automatic identification of potentially harmful content by analyzing linguistic patterns and behaviors in various data sources, including photos and videos. This timely detection enables alerts to relevant authorities or moderators, allowing for rapid interventions and potential harm mitigation. This paper, a culmination of previous research and advancements, details the potential for significantly enhancing cyberbullying detection and prevention by focusing on the system's design and the novel application of AI classifiers within an integrated framework. Our primary aim is to evaluate the feasibility and applicability of such a framework in a real-world application context. The proposed approach is shown to tackle the pervasive issue of cyberbullying effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smartphones have emerged as a ubiquitous personal gadget that serve as a repository for individuals' significant personal data. Consequently, both physiological and behavioral traits, which are classified as biometric technologies, are used in authentication systems in order to safeguard data saved on smartphones from unauthorized access. Numerous authentication techniques have been developed; however, several authentication variables exhibit instability in the face of external influences or physical impairments. The potential failure of the authentication system might be attributed to several unpredictable circumstances. This research suggests that the use of distinctive and consistent elements over an individual's lifespan may be employed to develop an authentication classification model. This model would be based on prevalent personal behavioral biometrics and could be readily implemented in security authentication systems. The biological biometrics acquired from an individual's typing abilities during data entry include their name, surname, email, and phone number. Therefore, it is possible to establish and use a biometrics-based security system that can be sustained and employed during an individual's lifetime without the explicit dependance on the functionality of the smartphone devices. The experimental findings demonstrate that the use of a mobile touchscreen as the foundation for the proposed verification mechanism has promise as a high-precision authentication solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigation and detection of cybercrimes has been in the spotlight of cybersecurity research for as long as the topic has existed. Modern methods are required to keep up with the pace of the technology and toolset used to facilitate these crimes. Keystroke-injection attacks have been an issue due to the limitations of hardware and software up until recently. This paper presents comprehensive research on keystroke-injection payload generation that proposes the use of deep learning to bypass the security of keystroke-based authentication systems focusing on both fixed-text and free-text scenarios. In addition, it specifies the potential risks associated with keystroke-injection attacks. To ensure the legitimacy of the investigation, a model is proposed and implemented within this context. The results of the implemented implant model inside the keyboard indicate that deep learning can significantly improve the accuracy of keystroke dynamics recognition as well as help to generate effective payload from a locally collected dataset. The results demonstrate favorable accuracy rates, with reported performance of 93–96% for fixed-text scenarios and 75–92% for free-text. Accuracy across different text scenarios was achieved using a small dataset collected with the proposed implant model. This dataset enabled the generation of synthetic keystrokes directly within a low-computation-power device. This approach offers efficient and almost real-time keystroke replication. The results obtained show that the proposed model is sufficient not only to bypass the fixed-text keystroke dynamics system, but also to remotely control the victim's device at the appropriate time. However, such a method poses high security risks when deploying adaptive keystroke injection with impersonated payload in real-world scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowing some characteristics of an unknown user is useful information for security and commercial purposes. One of the acquired characteristics is the user’s native language, and its recognition can be achieved with data derived from the text he/she types, since text is the most widespread means of communication between Internet users. Keystroke dynamics, which leverages data derived from how user types, ensures that no sensitive data are leaked. In this work, data from the daily typing of users of five different native languages are collected, keystroke dynamics features are extracted, the most suitable ones are selected using a feature selection algorithm, well-known machine learning models and a boosting algorithm are used, and a rate of correct prediction that exceeds 90% is achieved. Knowing a user’s native language can help strengthen authentication systems, make better use of online services, and protect unsuspecting users from falling victim to fraud.

Can digital technologies provide a passive unobtrusive means to observe and study cognition outside of the laboratory? Previously, cognitive assessments and monitoring were conducted in a laboratory or clinical setting, allowing for a cross-sectional glimpse of cognitive states. In the last decade, researchers have been utilizing technological advances and devices to explore ways of assessing cognition in the real world. We propose that the virtual keyboard of smartphones, an increasingly ubiquitous digital device, can provide the ideal conduit for passive data collection to study cognition. Passive data collection occurs without the active engagement of a participant and allows for near-continuous, objective data collection. Most importantly, this data collection can occur in the real world, capturing authentic datapoints. This method of data collection and its analyses provide a more comprehensive and potentially more suitable insight into cognitive states, as intra-individual cognitive fluctuations over time have shown to be an early manifestation of cognitive decline. We review different ways passive data, centered around keystroke dynamics, collected from smartphones, have been used to assess and evaluate cognition. We also discuss gaps in the literature where future directions of utilizing passive data can continue to provide inferences into cognition and elaborate on the importance of digital data privacy and consent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid growth of electronic assessment in various fields has led to the emergence of issues such as user identity fraud and cheating. One potential solution to these problems is to use a complementary authentication method, such as a behavioral biometric characteristic that is unique to each individual. One promising approach is keystroke dynamics, which involves analyzing the typing patterns of users. In this research, the Deep Belief Networks (DBNs) model is used to implement a dynamic keystroke technique for secure e-assessment. The proposed system extracts various features from the pressure-time measurements, digraphs (dwell time and flight time), trigraphs, and n-graphs, and uses these features to classify the user's identity by applying the DBN algorithm to a dataset collected from participants who typed free text using a standard QWERTY keyboard in a neutral state without inducing specific emotions. The DBN model is designed to detect cheating attempts and is tested on a dataset collected from the proposed e-assessment system using free text. The implementation of the DBN results in an error rate of 5% and an accuracy of 95%, indicating that the system is effective in identifying users' identity and cheating, providing a secure eassessment approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The safeguarding of online services and prevention of unauthorized access by hackers rely heavily on user authentication, which is considered a crucial aspect of security. Currently, multi-factor authentication is used by enterprises to enhance security by integrating multiple verification methods rather than relying on a single method of authentication, which is considered less secure. Keystroke dynamics is a behavioral characteristic used to evaluate an individual's typing patterns to verify their legitimacy. This technique is preferred because the acquisition of such data is a simple process that does not require any additional user effort or equipment during the authentication process. This study proposes an optimized convolutional neural network that is designed to extract improved features by utilizing data synthesization and quantile transformation to maximize results. Additionally, an ensemble learning technique is used as the main algorithm for the training and testing phases. A publicly available benchmark dataset from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) was utilized to evaluate the proposed method, achieving an average accuracy of 99.95%, an average equal error rate (EER) of 0.65%, and an average area under the curve (AUC) of 99.99%, surpassing recent advancements made on the CMU dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, people become more connected to the internet using their mobile devices. They tend to use their critical and sensitive data among many applications. These applications provide security via user authentication. Authentication by passwords is a reliable and efficient access control procedure, but it is not sufficient. Additional procedures are needed to enhance the security of these applications. Keystroke dynamics (KSD) is one of the common behavioral based systems. KSD rhythm uses combinations of timing and non-timing features that are extracted and processed from several devices. This work presents a novel authentication approach based on two factors: password and KSD. Also, it presents extensive comparative analysis conducted between authentication systems based on KSDs. It proposes a prototype for a keyboard in order to collect timing and non-timing information from KSDs. Hence, the proposed approach uses timing and several non-timing features. These features have a demonstrated significant role for improving the performance measures of KSD behavioral authentication systems. Several experiments have been done and show acceptable level in performance measures as a second authentication factor. The approach has been tested using multiple classifiers. When Random Forest classifier has been used, the approach reached 0% error rate with 100% accuracy for classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biometric authentication has advantages over traditional authentication based on passwords or pin number (PIN) in that it is based on the user's inherent characteristics which is not easily stolen or lost. Keystroke dynamics and mouse dynamics are biometrics that study the behavior patterns of human–computer interaction (HCI). Personal keystroke pattern and mouse-movement pattern are difficult to imitate and can, therefore, be used for personal identity authentication. Keystrokes and mouse movements can potentially authenticate users without affecting the use of computers and other devices to improve system security. In real environments, authentication methods that fuse keystroke dynamics and mouse dynamics are less accurate. In this paper, a new method of user authentication using complex real-environment HCI data is presented, which is called authentication adaptation network (AAN). In this method, heterogeneous domain adaptation (HDA) method is used for user authentication based on keystroke dynamics and mouse dynamics for the first time. All representative time windows and dimensionality reduction targets of keystroke dynamics features are compared to determine the parameters of AAN to ensure the robustness of the algorithm, and the effectiveness of the algorithm is demonstrated by validation experiments and comparison with the methods proposed in previous studies. Finally, experiments using the collected real-environment HCI dataset obtained 89.22% user authentication accuracy, which indicate that the proposed method achieves an encouraging performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have highlighted several mental health problems in India, caused by factors such as lack of trained counsellors and a stigma associated with discussing mental health. These challenges have raised an increasing need for alternate methods that can be used to detect a person's emotion and monitor their mental health. Existing research in this field explores several approaches ranging from studying body language to analysing micro-expressions to detect a person's emotions. However, these solutions often rely on techniques that invade people's privacy and thus face challenges with mass adoption. The goal is to build a solution that can detect people's emotions, in a non-invasive manner. This research proposes a journaling web application wherein the users enter their daily reflections. The application extracts the user's typing patterns (keystroke data) and primary phone usage data. It uses this data to train an ensemble machine learning model, which can then detect the user's emotions. The proposed solution has various applications in today's world. People can use it to keep track of their emotions and study their emotional health. Also, any individual family can use this application to detect early signs of anxiety or depression amongst the members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Ubiquitous technologies can be leveraged to construct ecologically relevant metrics that complement traditional psychological assessments. This study aims to determine the feasibility of smartphone-derived real-world keyboard metadata to serve as digital biomarkers of mood. MATERIALS AND METHODS: BiAffect, a real-world observation study based on a freely available iPhone app, allowed the unobtrusive collection of typing metadata through a custom virtual keyboard that replaces the default keyboard. User demographics and self-reports for depression severity (Patient Health Questionnaire-8) were also collected. Using >14 million keypresses from 250 users who reported demographic information and a subset of 147 users who additionally completed at least 1 Patient Health Questionnaire, we employed hierarchical growth curve mixed-effects models to capture the effects of mood, demographics, and time of day on keyboard metadata. RESULTS: We analyzed 86 541 typing sessions associated with a total of 543 Patient Health Questionnaires. Results showed that more severe depression relates to more variable typing speed (P