COGNITIVE, ASSOCIATIVE AND CONVENTIONAL PASSWORDS - RECALL AND GUESSING RATES

The present paper investigated the viability of cognitive passwords an d word associations as techniques that might supplement conventional a lphanumeric passwords. Results from 86 participants showed that fact-b ased cognitive items were better recalled than opinion-based items, bu t people socially close to the participants were able to guess many of the fact-based items. Guessing rates for the word associations were l ow but so also were the recall rates. It is concluded that selected co gnitive items can yield acceptable recall and guessing rates while bei ng less susceptible to forgetting than conventional passwords. Word as sociations require more research to isolate the best method of generat ing them. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.