Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

An Experimental Study On The Role Of Password Strength And Cognitive Load On Employee Productivity, Stephen Mujeye

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The proliferation of information systems (IS) over the past decades has increased the demand for system authentication. While the majority of system authentications are password-based, it is well documented that passwords have significant limitations. To address this issue, companies have been placing increased requirements on the user to ensure their passwords are more complex and consequently stronger. In addition to meeting a certain complexity threshold, the password must also be changed on a regular basis. As the cognitive load increases on the employees using complex passwords and changing them often, they may have difficulty recalling their passwords. As such, the …

The Impact Of Image Synonyms In Graphical-Based Authentication Systems, Jonathan William Sparks

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Traditional text-based passwords used for authentication in information systems have several known issues in the areas of usability and security. Research has shown that when users generate passwords for systems, they tend to create passwords that are subject to compromise more so than those created randomly by the computer. Research has also shown that users have difficulty remembering highly secure, randomly created, text-based passwords.

Graphical-based passwords have been shown to be highly memorable for users when applied to system authentication. However, graphical-based authentication systems require additional cognitive load to recognize and enter a password compared to traditional text-based authentication that …