Abstract: An authentication system is presented that relies on an arrangement of positions defined through a positional matrix to determine the order in which two or more sets of images are extracted from a file structure and presented to a user through the mutually parallel rows or columns of a selection mechanism during the administration of an authentication challenge and which then attempts to authenticate the user's right of access or verify their identity based on the representational positions and relative alignment of the images matched by the user in some prescribed manner through the selection mechanism thus allowing the system to perform its authentication functions without having to explicitly reference, process, transmit or store any specific image identifiers, display coordinates or file designators that could, if otherwise compromised, reveal the proprietary images chosen by the user for the purpose of their authentication.