House number, then… (Image: Eric Garault/Picturetank)

SICK of having to remember a zillion passwords? Logging in using obscure facts about your everyday life could be the answer.

Called narrative authentication, the system was developed by Carson Brown and colleagues at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. It uses software running in the background on a computer or smartphone to log your activities. The system can, for example, note how long you spent playing a video game, which one it was and the time you stopped. It also logs videos you posted to Facebook and any check-ins you made on social networking sites such as Foursquare. You can also add your own events to the narrative, such as when you passed your driving test.

Once set up, the system will generate questions based on its records – making logging in a little like playing a text-based adventure game, according to Brown. It’s fun, he says, and nowhere near as boring as entering passwords. The work was first presented at a security conference in September.


Robert Ghanea-Hercock, chief security researcher at BT’s lab in Ipswich, UK, says the system could be a valuable addition to our range of login strategies. “Humans are better equipped to process stories than random pass phrases,” he says.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Log your routine and ditch those inane passwords”