A COMPARISON OF PASSWORD TECHNIQUES FOR MULTILEVEL AUTHENTICATION MECHANISMS

Various mechanisms for authenticating users of computer-based informat ion systems have been proposed. These include traditional, user-select ed passwords, system-generated passwords, passphrases, cognitive passw ords and associative passwords. While the mechanisms employed in prima ry passwords are determined by the operating systems' manufacturers, s ystem designers can select any password mechanism for secondary passwo rds, to further protect sensitive applications and data files. This pa per reports on the results of an empirically based study of passwords characteristics. It provides a comparative evaluation on the memorabil ity and users' subjective preferences of the various passwords mechani sms, and suggests that cognitive passwords and associative passwords s eem the most appropriate for secondary passwords.