Thaindian News

Washington, Apr 21 (ANI): Researchers are one step closer to make the passwords of the future more secure and, at the same time, simpler to use.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden have been inspired by the physics of critical phenomena in their attempts to significantly improve password protection.

The researchers split a password into two sections. With the first, easy to memorize section they encrypt a Captcha - an image that computer programs per se have difficulty in deciphering.

The researchers also make it more difficult for computers, whose task it is to automatically crack passwords, to read the passwords without authorization.

They use images of a simulated physical system, which they additionally make unrecognizable with a chaotic process.

These p-Captchas enable the Dresden physicists to achieve a high level of password protection, even though the user need only remember a weak password.

They also use mathematical methods from the physics of critical phenomena to protect the Captcha from being accessed by computers.

“We thus make the password protection both more effective and simpler,” says Konstantin Kladko, who had the idea for this interdisciplinary approach during his time at the Dresden Max Planck Institute; he is currently a researcher at Axioma Research in Palo Alto/USA. (ANI)