Outline of Mnemonic Guard

Our Expanded Password System “Mnemonic Guard” with which we can make use of episodic image memory in addition to textual memory can be viewed as an enhanced successor to text-only password systems on its own.

Furthermore, the Expanded Password System will enable us to see truly powerful multi-factor authentications with a strong unique password being used as one of the factors for all different accounts, whether indoor or outdoor.

With the Expanded Password System used as a rescue-password in case of false rejection, biometric solutions will offer good convenience without sacrificing the confidentiality.  We would also be able to see truly reliable decentralized ID federations with a strong unique password
being used as the master-password for each of single-sign-on services and password management tools.  The outcome will be the most highly assured identity achieved through the most reliable “shared secrets”

The Expanded Password System is inclusive of textual as well as non-textual passwords.  Users can retain the textual passwords as before while they expand their password memory to include the non-textual passwords without being impeded by the cognitive effect of “interference of memory”.  It is extremely difficult to imagine the users who would suffer disadvantage or inconvenience by taking up the expanded password system.

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Outline of Mnemonicguard

Password On Media #17

Below are some of the latest media articles about password problems and my comments on them.

- Authentication Advances May Finally Kill Passwords and PINs

http://www.americanbanker.com/news/bank-technology/authentication-advances-may-finally-kill-passwords-and-pins-1074298-1.html

“banks are finally replacing old and not-so-reliable methods of authenticating customers —

passwords and security questions — with sophisticated alternatives.”

My comment:  In a world where we live without passwords or PINs, say, where our identity is

established without our volitional participation, we would be able to have a safe sleep only

when we are alone in a firmly locked room.  Is this what we want?

Posted below relating to this topic is a slide “Death to Password?”

http://www.slideshare.net/HitoshiKokumai/death-to-password-no-it-is-given-a-new-life

- NTT DoCoMo offering password replacement on some services

http://www.zdnet.com/article/ntt-docomo-immediately-offering-password-replacement-on-some-services/

“NTT DoCoMo said it plans to be the first mobile operator to integrate online services and smartphones that support biometric authentication based on protocols developed by the FIDO Alliance.”

My comment:  FIDO is sadly promoting biometrics in a wrong manner.

Biometric authentication could be a candidate for displacing the password if/when (only if/when)

it has stopped depending on a password to be registered in case of false rejection while keeping

the near-zero false acceptance.

We could be certain that biometrics would help for better security only when it is operated together with another factor by AND/Conjunction (we need to go through both of the two), not when operated with another factor by OR/Disjunction (we need only to go through either one of the two) as in the cases of Touch ID and many other biometric products on the market that require a backup/fallback password, which only increase the convenience by bringing down the security.

In short, biometric solutions could be recommended to the people who want convenience but

should not be recommended to those who need security.  Below is a brief slide titled “Password-Dependent Password-Killer” posted with respect to this theme.

http://www.slideshare.net/HitoshiKokumai/password-dependent-passwordkiller-46151802