Multimodal User Authentication in Smart Environments: Survey of User Attitudes

As users shift from interacting actively with devices with screens to interacting seamlessly with smart environments, novel models of user authentication will be needed to maintain the security and privacy of user data. To understand users' attitudes toward new models of authentication (e.g., voice recognition), we surveyed 117 Amazon Turk workers and 43 computer science students about their authentication preferences, in contexts when others are present and different usability metrics. Our users placed less trust in natural authentication modalities (e.g., body gestures) than traditional modalities (e.g., passwords) due to concerns about accuracy or security. Users were also not as willing to use natural authentication modalities except in the presence of people they trust due to risk of exposure and feelings of awkwardness. We discuss the implications for designing natural multimodal authentication and explore the design space around users' current mental models for the future of secure and usable smart technology.