WristUnlock: Secure and Usable Smartphone Unlocking with Wrist Wearables

Lili Zhang; Dianqi Han; Ang Li; Tao Li; Yan Zhang; Yanchao Zhang

doi:10.1109/CNS.2019.8802715

WristUnlock: Secure and Usable Smartphone Unlocking with Wrist Wearables

Lili Zhang, Dianqi Han, Ang Li, Tao Li, Yan Zhang, Yanchao Zhang

Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering, School of (IAFSE-ECEE)

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

We propose WristUnlock, a novel technique that uses a wrist wearable to unlock a smartphone in a secure and usable fashion. WristUnlock explores both the physical proximity and secure Bluetooth connection between the smartphone and wrist wearable. There are two modes in WristUnlock with different security and usability features. In the WristRaise mode, the user raises his smartphone in his natural way with the same arm carrying the wrist wearable; the smartphone gets unlocked if the acceleration data on the smartphone and wrist wearable satisfy an anticipated relationship specific to the user himself. In the WristTouch mode, the wrist wearable sends a random number to the smartphone through both the Bluetooth channel and a touch-based physical channel; the smartphone gets unlocked if the numbers received from both channels are equal. We thoroughly analyze the security of WristUnlock and confirm its high efficacy through detailed experiments.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	2019 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security, CNS 2019
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages	28-36
Number of pages	9
ISBN (Electronic)	9781538671177
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/CNS.2019.8802715
State	Published - Jun 2019
Event	2019 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security, CNS 2019 - Washington, United States Duration: Jun 10 2019 → Jun 12 2019

Publication series

Name	2019 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security, CNS 2019

Conference

Conference	2019 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security, CNS 2019
Country/Territory	United States
City	Washington
Period	6/10/19 → 6/12/19

Keywords

Smartphone authentication
security
usability

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Computer Networks and Communications
Hardware and Architecture
Information Systems and Management
Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality

Access to Document

10.1109/CNS.2019.8802715

Cite this

Zhang, L., Han, D., Li, A., Li, T., Zhang, Y., & Zhang, Y. (2019). WristUnlock: Secure and Usable Smartphone Unlocking with Wrist Wearables. In 2019 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security, CNS 2019 (pp. 28-36). Article 8802715 (2019 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security, CNS 2019). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1109/CNS.2019.8802715

WristUnlock: Secure and Usable Smartphone Unlocking with Wrist Wearables. / Zhang, Lili; Han, Dianqi; Li, Ang et al.
2019 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security, CNS 2019. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2019. p. 28-36 8802715 (2019 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security, CNS 2019).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Zhang, L, Han, D, Li, A, Li, T, Zhang, Y & Zhang, Y 2019, WristUnlock: Secure and Usable Smartphone Unlocking with Wrist Wearables. in 2019 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security, CNS 2019., 8802715, 2019 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security, CNS 2019, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., pp. 28-36, 2019 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security, CNS 2019, Washington, United States, 6/10/19. https://doi.org/10.1109/CNS.2019.8802715

Zhang L, Han D, Li A, Li T, Zhang Y, Zhang Y. WristUnlock: Secure and Usable Smartphone Unlocking with Wrist Wearables. In 2019 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security, CNS 2019. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. 2019. p. 28-36. 8802715. (2019 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security, CNS 2019). doi: 10.1109/CNS.2019.8802715

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title = "WristUnlock: Secure and Usable Smartphone Unlocking with Wrist Wearables",

abstract = "We propose WristUnlock, a novel technique that uses a wrist wearable to unlock a smartphone in a secure and usable fashion. WristUnlock explores both the physical proximity and secure Bluetooth connection between the smartphone and wrist wearable. There are two modes in WristUnlock with different security and usability features. In the WristRaise mode, the user raises his smartphone in his natural way with the same arm carrying the wrist wearable; the smartphone gets unlocked if the acceleration data on the smartphone and wrist wearable satisfy an anticipated relationship specific to the user himself. In the WristTouch mode, the wrist wearable sends a random number to the smartphone through both the Bluetooth channel and a touch-based physical channel; the smartphone gets unlocked if the numbers received from both channels are equal. We thoroughly analyze the security of WristUnlock and confirm its high efficacy through detailed experiments.",

keywords = "Smartphone authentication, security, usability",

author = "Lili Zhang and Dianqi Han and Ang Li and Tao Li and Yan Zhang and Yanchao Zhang",

note = "Funding Information: ACKNOWLEDGMENT We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments that help improve the quality of this paper. This work was supported in part by US National Science Foundation under grants CNS-1514381, CNS-1619251, and CNS-1824355. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 IEEE.; 2019 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security, CNS 2019 ; Conference date: 10-06-2019 Through 12-06-2019",

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N1 - Funding Information: ACKNOWLEDGMENT We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments that help improve the quality of this paper. This work was supported in part by US National Science Foundation under grants CNS-1514381, CNS-1619251, and CNS-1824355. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 IEEE.

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N2 - We propose WristUnlock, a novel technique that uses a wrist wearable to unlock a smartphone in a secure and usable fashion. WristUnlock explores both the physical proximity and secure Bluetooth connection between the smartphone and wrist wearable. There are two modes in WristUnlock with different security and usability features. In the WristRaise mode, the user raises his smartphone in his natural way with the same arm carrying the wrist wearable; the smartphone gets unlocked if the acceleration data on the smartphone and wrist wearable satisfy an anticipated relationship specific to the user himself. In the WristTouch mode, the wrist wearable sends a random number to the smartphone through both the Bluetooth channel and a touch-based physical channel; the smartphone gets unlocked if the numbers received from both channels are equal. We thoroughly analyze the security of WristUnlock and confirm its high efficacy through detailed experiments.

AB - We propose WristUnlock, a novel technique that uses a wrist wearable to unlock a smartphone in a secure and usable fashion. WristUnlock explores both the physical proximity and secure Bluetooth connection between the smartphone and wrist wearable. There are two modes in WristUnlock with different security and usability features. In the WristRaise mode, the user raises his smartphone in his natural way with the same arm carrying the wrist wearable; the smartphone gets unlocked if the acceleration data on the smartphone and wrist wearable satisfy an anticipated relationship specific to the user himself. In the WristTouch mode, the wrist wearable sends a random number to the smartphone through both the Bluetooth channel and a touch-based physical channel; the smartphone gets unlocked if the numbers received from both channels are equal. We thoroughly analyze the security of WristUnlock and confirm its high efficacy through detailed experiments.

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WristUnlock: Secure and Usable Smartphone Unlocking with Wrist Wearables

Abstract

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Conference

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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