Password check by decomposing password

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9754101-B2
Application number	US-201615237525-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 15, 2016
Priority date	Jun 1, 2011
Publication date	Sep 5, 2017
Grant date	Sep 5, 2017

Abstract

A proposed password is decomposed into basic components to determine and score transitions between the basic components and create a password score that measures the strength of the proposed password based on rules, such as concatenation, insertion, and replacement. The proposed password is scored against all known words, such as when a user is first asked to create a password for an account or access. The proposed password can also be scored against one or more previous passwords for the user, such as when the user is asked to change the user's previous password, to determine similarity between the two passwords.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a non-transitory memory; and
one or more hardware processors coupled to the non-transitory memory and configured to read instructions from the non-transitory memory to cause the system to perform operations comprising:
receiving a proposed password from a user;
accessing a previous password of the user;
decomposing the proposed password and the previous password into a first plurality of components and a second plurality of components, respectively;
analyzing the first plurality of components and the second plurality of components in relation to the proposed password and the previous password, respectively, to discern a first set of formation rules used to form the proposed password from the first plurality of components and a second set of formation rules used to form the previous password from the second plurality of components;
determining a similarity between the proposed password and the previous password based on a comparison between the first plurality of components and the second plurality of components and a comparison between the first set of formation rules and the second set of formation rules; and
determining to accept the proposed password based on the similarity.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the determining the similarity comprises:
determining a first similarity score based on the comparison between the first plurality of components and the second plurality of components;
determining a second similarity score based on the comparison between the first set of formation rules and the second set of formation rules; and
generating a total similarity score as a function of the first similarity score and the second similarity score.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the determining the similarity comprises determining a similarity score for the proposed password, and wherein the determining to accept the proposed password based on the similarity includes comparing the similarity score for the proposed password with a threshold score.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the analyzing the first plurality of components in relation to the proposed password comprises detecting a presence of one or more operations selected from the group of operations consisting of insertion, concatenation, and replacement, used to form the proposed password from the first plurality of components.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the previous password and the proposed password comprise alphanumeric characters and symbols.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein different formation rules are weighted differently for determining the similarity between the previous password and the proposed password.

7. The system of claim 2 , wherein the operations further comprise flagging the proposed password when the total similarity score is below a threshold score.

8. A method comprising:
receiving, by one or more hardware processors, a proposed password from a user;
accessing, by one or more hardware processors, a previous password of the user;
decomposing, by one or more hardware processors, the proposed password and the previous password into a first plurality of components and a second plurality of components, respectively;
analyzing, by one or more hardware processors, the first plurality of components and the second plurality of components in relation to the proposed password and the previous password, respectively, to discern a first set of formation rules used to form the proposed password from the first plurality of components and a second set of formation rules used to form the previous password from the second plurality of components;
determining, by one or more hardware processors, a similarity between the proposed password and the previous password based on a comparison between the first set of formation rules and the second set of formation rules; and
determining, by one or more hardware processors, to accept the proposed password based on the similarity.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the determining the similarity between the proposed password and the previous password is further based on a comparison between the first plurality of components and the second plurality of components, wherein the determining the similarity further comprises:
determining a first similarity score based on the comparison between the first plurality of components and the second plurality of components;
determining a second similarity score based on the comparison between the first set of formation rules and the second set of formation rules; and
generating a total similarity score as a function of the first similarity score and the second similarity score.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the determining the similarity comprises determining a similarity score for the proposed password, and wherein the determining to accept the proposed password based on the similarity includes comparing the similarity score for the proposed password with a threshold score.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the analyzing the first plurality of components in relation to the proposed password comprises detecting a presence of one or more operations selected from the group of operations consisting of insertion, concatenation, and replacement, used to form the proposed password from the first plurality of components.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the previous password and the proposed password comprise alphanumeric characters and symbols.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein different formation rules are weighted differently for determining the similarity between the previous password and the proposed password.

14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising flagging the proposed password when the total similarity score is below a threshold score.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon machine-readable instructions executable to cause a machine to perform operations comprising:
receiving a proposed password from a user;
accessing a previous password of the user;
decomposing the proposed password and the previous password into a first plurality of components and a second plurality of components, respectively;
analyzing the first plurality of components and the second plurality of components in relation to the proposed password and the previous password, respectively, to discern a first set of formation rules used to form the proposed password from the first plurality of components and a second set of formation rules used to form the previous password from the second plurality of components;
determining a similarity between the proposed password and the previous password based on a comparison between the first plurality of components and the second plurality of components and a comparison between the first set of formation rules and the second set of formation rules; and
determining to accept the proposed password based on the similarity.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the determining the similarity comprises:
determining a first similarity score based on the comparison between the first plurality of components and the second plurality of components;
determining a second similarity score based on the comparison between the first set of formation rules and the second set of formation rules; and
generating a total similarity score as a function of the first similarity score and the second similarity score.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the determining the similarity comprises determining a similarity score for the proposed password, and where

Assignees

• Paypal Inc

Inventors

• Jakobsson Bjorn Markus

Classifications

• H04L63/06

  for supporting key management in a packet data network (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key management H04L9/08) · CPC title

• H04L63/083

  using passwords (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226) · CPC title

• G06F21/00

  Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity · CPC title

• A61B2090/3735

  Optical coherence tomography [OCT] · CPC title

• G01B9/02089

  Displaying the signal, e.g. for user interaction · CPC title