ADVANCED MULTI-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION

Abstract

Advanced multi-factor authentication is disclosed. Data describing a change in a spatial position of a computing device from a first point in time to a second point in time may be captured. Data describing a change in a spatial position of an object within a field of view of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time may further be captured. Access to at least one resource may be authorized when the data describing the change in the spatial position of the object within the field of view of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time is expected based at least in part on the data describing the change in the spatial position of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 14/462,992, filed on Aug. 19, 2014, entitled “Authentication Via Accelerometer,” the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Advanced multi-factor authentication may be provided. Mobile devices are routinely equipped with numerous sensors, including accelerometers. An accelerometer is an electromechanical device that will measure acceleration forces. These forces may be static, like the constant force of gravity, and/or they could be dynamic, such as those caused by moving or vibrating the accelerometer. By measuring the amount of static acceleration due to gravity, the angle at which the device is tilted may be measured. By sensing the amount of dynamic acceleration, the direction and speed that the device is moving may be detected. Conventional devices, however, do not make use of the accelerometer to provide device security. Instead, most devices rely on a static passcode or pattern unlock. Even the most advanced consumer devices rely on facial identification at most.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Many aspects of the present disclosure can be better understood with reference to the following diagrams. The drawings are not necessarily to scale. Instead, emphasis is placed upon clearly illustrating certain features of the disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an operating environment for providing device management.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method for providing an accelerometer-based authentication scheme;

FIG. 3 illustrates a use case for authentication using an accelerometer;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the following description to refer to the same or similar elements. While embodiments of the disclosure may be described, modifications, adaptations, and other implementations are possible. For example, substitutions, additions, or modifications may be made to the elements illustrated in the drawings, and the methods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering, or adding stages to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the following detailed description does not limit the disclosure. Instead, the proper scope of the disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

Advanced multi-factor authentication may be provided. Mobile devices frequently have a configurable setting to lock the device upon some condition, such as pressing a button or expiration of a time period of inactivity. In the locked state, access to many functions of the device may be limited. For example, a lock screen may be displayed with the time, date, and some message notifications, but attempts to open the applications associated with those notifications may be denied until a user is authorized. In some cases, passcodes, finger-swipe patterns, and biometric data (e.g., facial recognition, fingerprints, etc.) may be used as authorization.

Consistent with embodiments of this specification, a device accelerometer may be used to replace and/or supplement user authentication methods. As described herein, an accelerometer may comprise and/or include a gyroscope, a motion capture camera, a gradiometer, and/or other electromechanical components capable of detecting a device's orientation, velocity, directional movement, shock, vibration, coordinate acceleration, and/or other changes in spatial position. In some embodiments, an accelerometer behaves as a damped mass on a spring. When the accelerometer experiences an acceleration, the mass is displaced to the point that the spring is able to accelerate the mass at the same rate as the casing. The displacement is then measured to give the acceleration, often using piezoelectric, piezoresistive and capacitive components to convert the mechanical motion into an electrical signal.

User devices, such as cellular phones, tablets, laptops, may include accelerometers as part of their internal components. In some embodiments, an external device may be used to provide the accelerometer (e.g., a video game controller) that may provide the acceleration measurements to another device. Users of such devices may establish an authorization movement of the accelerometer-enabled device that may be used to permit those users access to at least some of the functionality of the device. For example, a user may establish a clockwise turn while raising the device as their particular authorization movement.

In some embodiments, the movement may be coupled with a secondary authorization technique, such as facial recognition, to increase security and/or prevent accidental unlocking of the device. For example, the clockwise+raise movement may need to be performed while a camera on the device is aimed at the user's face. The movements tracked by the accelerometer should correlate with the movement of the camera's field of view and a recognition of the user associated with the movement in order to comprise a successful authorization. In one embodiment, performing a facial recognition on the user of the device can include correlating a video capture by the device to an inverse of the authentication movement. Successful authorization may allow the user to perform functions on the device and/or access content, resources, or physical locations.

Compliance with management and/or security policies may be required by an enterprise before allowing access to content, or to prevent remediation actions from being taken. For example, a management policy may require that a device have a passcode set, that a specific application be used for real-time communications, and that only users within the same user group may be messaged during working hours. Security policies may restrict encryption of the message traffic to an encryption key assigned by the enterprise, so that messages may be logged and/or audited, and may prohibit the sending of files or images. Failure to comply with these policies may result, for example, in restricting an input from being transmitted at all, overriding a user preference associated with the application (e.g., using the enterprise encryption key instead of a personal key), and/or preventing the establishment of a communication session between users.

The security policies may further comprise requirements to protect the content of the communication from unauthorized users. For example, a notification message on the receiving user's device may be prohibited from displaying any and/or all of the contents of the communication until an authorization, such as a passcode or encryption key password, has been entered. In some embodiments, the message may be displayed, but the contents may be obfuscated, such as by blurring or covering text with black boxes. Other restrictions may prevent any and/or all devices participating in the communication from capturing the contents of the message, such as by preventing logging and/or disabling screen capture capabilities. A further refinement may vary a refresh rate associated with different portions of a display of the contents such that attempts to photograph the screen may be blocked or at least allowed to capture only portions of those contents.

The technical effects of some embodiments of this disclosure may include establishing control of access to networks and resources for user devices when access lists may not be predefined, and reducing and/or eliminating the burden of predefining access lists to control access to networks and resources. Moreover, the technical effects of some embodiments may include enhancing network access control by assigning specific access rights based on access lists to client devices authorized to access associated network beacons and resources.

Other technical effects of some embodiments of this disclosure may offer group management solutions to managing content access and distribution. For example, users of a sales group may have read access to marketing documents and presentations, while users in a marketing group may be able to edit and/or annotate the market documents. Similarly, users in an accounting or business services group may be the only ones with access to enterprise financial documents. These access controls may be provided by distributing authorization credentials to devices associated with users of the respective group. Each user may then authenticate to their device, such as by inputting a username, password, authentication key, and/or biometric data, before the device may access and/or retrieve the content authorized for distribution to that device. These authentication types are provided as examples only and are not intended to be limiting as many other types of user authentication are in use and/or may be contemplated in the future.

Content access may be further limited by policies that enforce other compliance restrictions based on properties of the device such as time, location, device security and/or integrity, presence of another device, software versions, required software, etc. For example, educational settings may designate student and instructor groups. These groups may be further assigned to specific classes such that only student group members associated with a given class may access content associated with that class. Further, edit access to the content for the class may be restricted to the user(s) in the instructor group and/or student group members may be permitted to add content that only the instructor may view (e.g., homework assignments). In some embodiments, the instructor group user(s) may be able to push content to student group user(s) and/or activate temporary control of the students' devices to prevent the devices from accessing non-class related content during class time.

To reduce the cost of ownership of user devices and cellular and/or data service charges associated with use of such user devices, an enterprise such as an educational institution and/or a business may implement a “bring your own device” (BYOD) policy to allow an employee to use his/her personal device to access enterprise resources rather than provide the user with an enterprise owned user device for such purpose. To support such a BYOD policy, a user device administrator (e.g., an IT administrator) may manage a group of personally owned user devices, using a management application executed by a management server in communication with the user devices over a network, to provide the user devices with secure access to enterprise resources.

The user device administrator may enroll user devices into the management system to monitor the user devices for security vulnerabilities and to configure the user devices for secure access to enterprise resources. The user device administrator may create and/or configure at least one configuration profile using a user interface provided by the management system. A configuration profile may comprise a set of instructions and/or settings that configure the operations and/or functions of a user device, which may ensure the security of the accessed resources. The user device administrator may, for instance, configure an enterprise email configuration profile by specifying the network address and access credentials of an enterprise email account that the users of the user devices are authorized to access. Other configuration policies may include, but are not limited to, hardware, software, application, function, cellular, text message, and data use restrictions, which may be based at least in part on the current time and/or location of the restricted user device. The user device administrator may thereafter deploy the configuration profiles to specific user devices, such as to groups of user devices of users with similar roles, privileges and/or titles.

Access credentials may uniquely identify a client device and/or the user of the client device. For example, the access credentials for a user may comprise a username, a password, and/or biometric data related to facial recognition, retina recognition, fingerprint recognition, and the like. Access credentials related to a device may uniquely identify the device and may comprise, for example, a unique hardware identifier such as a GUID (Globally Unique Identifier), UUID (Universally Unique Identifier), UDID (Unique Device Identifier), serial number, IMEI (Internationally Mobile Equipment Identity), Wi-Fi MAC (Media Access Control) address, Bluetooth MAC address, a CPU ID, and/or the like, or any combination of two or more such hardware identifiers. Additionally, the access credentials may be represented by a unique software identifier such a token or certificate, based at least in part on the aforementioned unique hardware identifiers.

The user devices may also have access to personal configuration profiles that may be created by the users of the user devices. The user devices may, for instance, have access to a personal email configuration profile that was created by a user of the user device to provide access to her personal email account. Thus, a user device enrolled in a BYOD management system may have more than one configuration profile for a given use of the user device, such as a personal email configuration profile and an enterprise email configuration profile that are both used for accessing email accounts on the user device.

The user devices may be instructed to enable and/or disable certain configuration profiles according to authorization rights specified by the user device administrator, such as location and/or time-based authorization rights. For example, a BYOD policy may specify that user devices enrolled in the BYOD management system are authorized for personal use outside of the workday and are authorized for business use during the workday. Similarly, a BYOD device may be restricted to enterprise uses while in work locations and/or prohibited from accessing enterprise resources while outside of secure work locations. To implement such a policy, a user device administrator may instruct the user devices to toggle between personal configuration policies and enterprise configuration policies based on factors such as the current time and/or location associated with the user device.

The current time may be based on the current time at the current location of the user device, which may be determined by GPS, Wi-Fi, Cellular Triangulation, etc., or may be based on the current time at a configured primary location associated with the user device, which may be the primary office location of an employee user of the user device. As an example, time-based configuration profile toggling may be provided by instructing a user device to enable business configuration profiles and disable personal configuration profiles while the current time is between 9 AM and 5 PM at the current location of the user device, and to disable business configuration profiles and enable personal configuration profiles while the current time is between 5 PM and 9 AM at the current location of the user device.

FIG. 1 illustrates a networked environment 100 according to various embodiments. The networked environment 100 includes a network 110, a client device 120, an authentication server 130, and a compliance server 140. The network 110 comprises, for example any type of wireless network such as a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless wide area network (WWAN), and/or any other type of wireless network now known and/or later developed. Additionally, the network 110 may comprise the Internet, intranets, extranets, microwave networks, satellite communications, cellular systems, PCS, infrared communications, global area networks, and/or other suitable networks, etc., and/or any combination of two or more such networks. It should be understood that embodiments described herein may be used to advantage in any type or combination of wired and/or wireless networks.

In some embodiments, the network 110 facilitates the transport of data between at least one client device, such as client device 120, the authentication server 130, and the compliance server 140. Client devices may include a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant, a cellular telephone, a set-top device, music players, web pads, tablet computer systems, game consoles, and/or other devices with like capability. Client device 120 comprises a wireless network connectivity component, for example, a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) card, USB (Universal Serial Bus), PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) card, SDIO (Secure Digital Input-Output) card, NewCard, Cardbus, a modem, a wireless radio transceiver (including an RFID transceiver), near-field communications (NFC) transceiver, and/or the like. Additionally, the client device 120 may include a processor for executing applications and/or services, and a memory accessible by the processor to store data and other information. The client device 120 is operable to communicate wirelessly with the authentication server 130 and the compliance server 140 with the aid of the wireless network connectivity component.

Additionally, the client device 120 may store in memory an agent app (i.e., application) 122, a device profile 124, user access credentials 126, and potentially other data and/or applications. In some embodiments, the device profile 124 may include a software identifier, a hardware identifier, and/or a combination of software and hardware identifiers. For instance, the device identifier may be a unique hardware identifier such as a MAC address, a CPU ID, and/or other hardware identifiers. The user access credentials 126 may include a username, a password, and/or biometric data related to facial recognition, retina recognition, fingerprint recognition, and the like. Additionally, the device profile 124 may include a listing of hardware and software attributes that describe the client device 120. For instance, the device profile 124 may include hardware specifications of the client device 120, version information of various software installed on the client device 120, and/or any other hardware/software attributes. Additionally, the device profile 124 may also include data indicating a date of last virus scan, a date of last access by IT, a date of last tune-up by IT, and/or any other data indicating a date of last device check.

The client device 120 may further be configured to execute various applications such as the agent application 122. The agent application 122 may be executed to exchange information with other servers and/or devices through network 110. In some embodiments, agent application 122 may collect information about the status of client device 120 as well as receive and/or enforce compliance rules 142 from compliance server 140.

The client device 120 may also be configured to execute other applications such as, for example, browser applications, email applications, physical access applications, word processing applications, spreadsheet applications, database applications, and/or other applications. For instance, a browser and/or word processing application may be executed in the client device 120, for example, to access and render network pages, such as web pages, documents, and/or other network content served up by authentication server 130, the compliance server 140, and/or any other computing system.

The authentication server 130 and the compliance server 140 can each be implemented as, for example, a server computer and/or any other system capable of providing computing capability. Further, the authentication server 130, compliance server 140, and any other system described herein may be configured with logic for performing the methods described in this disclosure. Although one authentication server 130 and one compliance server 140 are depicted in FIG. 1, certain embodiments of the networked environment 100 include more than one authentication server 130 and/or compliance server 140. At least one of the servers may be employed and arranged, for example, in at least one server bank, computer bank, and/or other arrangements. For example, the server computers together may include a cloud computing resource, a grid computing resource, and/or any other distributed computing arrangement. Such server computers may be located in a single installation and/or may be distributed among many different geographical locations. For purposes of convenience, the authentication server 130 and the compliance server 140 are each referred to herein in the singular.

Various applications and/or other functionality may be executed in the authentication server 130 and the compliance server 140, respectively, according to certain embodiments. Also, various data is stored in a data store that is part of and/or otherwise accessible to the authentication server 130 and/or that is part of and/or otherwise accessible to the compliance server 140. The data stored in each of the data stores may be accessed, modified, removed, and/or otherwise manipulated in association with the operation of the applications and/or functional entities described herein.

The components executed in the authentication server 130 may include an authentication service 132, and may include other applications, services, processes, systems, engines, and/or functionality not discussed in detail herein. As used herein, the term “authentication service” is meant to generally refer to computer-executable instructions for performing the functionality described herein for authorizing and authenticating client device 120. The authentication service 132 is executed to receive a request for access to resources 132 from an application executed on client device 120 and to determine whether to grant or deny the request. Upon determining to grant the request 132, the authentication service 132 may then send access credentials.

The data stored in the data store of the authentication server 130 may include, for example, approved device identifiers, approved user access credentials, physical access credentials, resource access credentials, and potentially other data. The approved device identifiers represent a listing of device identifiers that have been pre-approved for potential accessing physical access credentials which may entitle holders of client devices 120 to access to various resources 132. The approved device identifiers may have been previously provided to the authentication server 130 by a system administrator and/or the like. The approved user access credentials represent a listing of user access credentials 126 that have been pre-approved for accessing resources 132.

The components executed in the compliance server 140 include a compliance service 144, and may include other applications, services, processes, systems, engines, and/or functionality not discussed in detail herein. As used herein, the term “compliance service” is meant to generally refer to computer-executable instructions for performing the functionality described herein for authorizing the device characteristics of another device, such as client device 120. The compliance service 144 is executed to determine whether the device characteristics of the client device 120 comply with the compliance rules 142 that are stored in the data store. For instance, the compliance service 144 may identify the device characteristics from the device profile 124 of each client device 120. Additionally, the compliance rules 142 represent a listing of management and security policies, hardware restrictions, software restrictions, and/or mobile device management restrictions that may need to be satisfied by the client device 120 prior to granting the request for access to resources 132.

In some embodiments, hardware restrictions included in the compliance rules 142 may comprise restrictions regarding use of specific client devices 120 and specific client device features, such as, for instance, cameras, Bluetooth, IRDA, tethering, external storage, a mobile access point, and/or other hardware restrictions. Software restrictions included in the compliance rules 142 may comprise restrictions regarding the use of specific client device operating systems and/or other applications, internet browser restrictions, screen capture functionality, and/or other software restrictions. Mobile device management restrictions included in the compliance rules 142 comprise encryption requirements, firmware versions, remote lock and wipe functionalities, logging and reporting features, GPS tracking, and/or other mobile device management features.

The compliance service 144 may determine whether the device characteristics of a client device 120 satisfy at least one of the restrictions enumerated in the compliance rules 142. For example, the compliance service 144 may determine that a client device 120 that has a camera, Bluetooth capability, and is executing a specified version of an operating system is compliant with the compliance rules 142. As another example, the compliance service 144 may determine that a client device 120 that is associated with an external storage unit and has screen capture functionality enabled is not compliant with the compliance rules 142. All of these restrictions discussed above may affect whether the client device 120 is entitled to use particular resources 132. In some embodiments, however, the compliance service 144 may not be used and physical access authorization may be determined solely based on approved user access credentials and/or approved device identifiers.

A user operating a client device 120 may wish to receive resources 132 so that the user may physically access a building, location, door, gate, drawer, filing cabinet, storage unit, cabinet, etc. In some embodiments, the user may interact with an input device to manipulate a network page displayed by a locally executed application, such as a browser application, to generate the request for access to a resource 132. In some embodiments, the user may manipulate a user interface generated by a locally executed application to generate the request. In either case, the user may provide login information and/or the application may automatically retrieve the login information from the memory of the client device 120. Login information may be, for instance, a unique user name, a password, biometric data, and/or other types of user access credentials 126. The application may then communicate the request to the enterprise access application, which may generate and transmit the request to the authentication service 132. In some embodiments, the enterprise access application may itself receive the input from the user directly and then transmit the access request to the authentication server 130.

Upon receiving the request, the authentication service 132 determines whether to grant or deny the request. In some embodiments, the authentication service 132 may first authenticate the client device 120 and the user operating the client device 120. To this end, the authentication service 132 determines whether the device identifier associated with the client device 120 matches one of the identifiers listed in the listing of approved identifiers. For instance, the device identifier of the client device 120 may be included as part of the request transmitted by the enterprise access application. In some embodiments, the authentication service 132 may request the device identifier from the client device 120 in response to receiving the access request. Upon identifying and/or receiving the device identifier, the authentication service 132 determines whether the device identifier matches one of the approved identifiers stored in the data store. In some embodiments, the authentication service 132 may authenticate the client device 120 dynamically by determining whether the device identifier is within a predetermined range of approved device identifiers. In some embodiments, the authentication service 132 may authenticate the client device 120 dynamically by performing an algorithm on the device identifier.

Additionally, the authentication service 132 may also authenticate the user operating the client device 120 by determining whether the user access credentials 126 associated with the user match one of the credentials in the listing of approved user access credentials. For instance, the user access credentials 126 associated with the user on the client device 120 may be included as part of the access request 132 transmitted by the enterprise access application 124. In some embodiments, the authentication service 132 may request the user access credentials 126 from the client device 120 in response to receiving the access request. Upon identifying and/or requesting the user access credentials 126, the authentication service 132 may determine whether the user access credentials 126 match one of the approved user access credentials stored in the data store. In some embodiments, the authentication service 132 may authenticate the user operating the client device 120 without also authenticating the client device 120. In other words, certain authenticated users may be authorized to gain the requested access regardless of what device they used to submit the resource request.

In some embodiments, having authenticated the client device 120 and the user operating the client device 120 as authorized to receive the resources 132, the authentication service 132 communicates with the compliance service 144 to further authorize the client device 120 to receive the resources 132. In some embodiments, the compliance service 144 authorizes the client device 120 by determining whether device characteristics of the client device 120 comply with applicable compliance rules 142. For instance, the compliance service 144 may identify the device characteristics of the client device 120 from the device profile 124. All or part of the device profile 124 may have been provided by the client device 120 in conjunction with the request and/or may be subsequently requested from the client device 120 by the authentication service 132 and/or the compliance service 144. The compliance service 144 then analyzes the device characteristics to determine whether the software restrictions, hardware restrictions, and/or device management restrictions defined in the compliance rules 142 are satisfied and returns the result of the determination to the authentication service 132. In an alternative embodiment, the authentication service 132 may include and perform functionality for determining whether the client device 120 complies with the compliance rules 142.

If the authentication service 132 determines and/or receives a determination that the client device 120 is authorized, the authentication service 132 then associates the client device 120 with the resources 132. In some embodiments, the authentication service 132 sends the physical access credentials to the client device 120 and authorizes the client device 120 to use such credentials in connection with accessing physical access points. In some embodiments, the authentication service 132 may also send the physical access credentials to physical access point.

In some embodiments, the resources 132 may be revoked at any time by the authentication server 130. Revocation may occur for any number of reasons, including but not limited to, a change in device profile 124, a change in approved device identifiers, a change in approved user access credentials, expiration of a defined time period, and/or a request from the user of the client device 120.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart setting forth the general stages involved in a method 200 consistent with embodiments of this disclosure for providing an accelerometer-based authentication scheme. Method 200 may be implemented using elements of networked environment 100 as described above, an example use case deployment 300, a schematic block diagram 400 and a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) system 500, as described below. Method 200 is described below with respect to operations performed by a computing device, with the understanding that such a computing device may comprise any number devices programmed for operation of any and/or all of the steps of method 200. The described computing device may comprise, for example, client device 120, authentication server 130, and/or compliance server 140. Ways to implement the stages of method 200 will be described in greater detail below.

Method 200 may begin at stage 205 where a computing device may receive a request to unlock. For example, a user may perform an action on client device 120, such as a swipe or button press, to indicate a desire to unlock the client device 120. In some embodiments, the request to unlock may comprise a request to grant access to resources 132, such as files, apps, content, hardware functions, networks, etc. For example, the request to unlock may comprise a request to activate a camera associated with client device 120.

Method 200 may then advance to stage 210 where the computing device may detect an authorization movement. For example, client device 120 may capture a movement and/or series of movements using an accelerometer. In some embodiments, the accelerometer may comprise a component of client device 120 and/or the accelerometer may comprise a component of a secondary device. For example, the accelerometer may comprise a component in a video game controller and/or other handheld device.

Method 200 may then advance to stage 215 where the computing device may capture at least one secondary criterion. For example, client device 120 may activate a camera and take a picture and/or video of the user performing the authentication movement. In some embodiments, the secondary criteria may be correlated with the movement, such as by comparing the movement of the visual field seen by the camera with the movement detected by the accelerometer. Other secondary criterion may comprise entry of a password, passcode, pattern, or security phrase and/or biometric data such as fingerprint, voice, and/or iris scanning.

Method 200 may then advance to stage 220 where the computing device may determine whether the user should be authenticated. For example, client device 120 may determine whether the movement detected by the accelerometer matches a pre-defined movement pattern associated with the user.

In some embodiments, a certain amount of variability may be permitted. For example, the movement pattern may be recorded by a user raising the device eighteen inches and then rotating the device 270 degrees. When the user later performs the authentication movement to unlock the device, they may only raise the device sixteen inches and/or may rotate the device three hundred degrees. A configurable setting may allow for some percentage of differential from the recorded movement—a larger differential percentage may comprise a less strict security policy, while a smaller differential percentage may comprise a stricter security policy.

In some embodiments, the secondary criteria may be examined for correlation with the authentication movement. For example, a facial recognition of the user may be performed using a camera of client device 120 and/or an external camera. Some facial recognition algorithms identify facial features by extracting landmarks, or features, from an image of the subject's face. Other algorithms may use the motion of the camera as a three-dimensional sensor to capture information about the shape of a face. This information is then used to identify distinctive features on the surface of a face, such as the contour of the eye sockets, nose, and chin. Correlation of the movement may also be provided by a secondary motion capture device that may independently verify that the user performing the motion is the same as the user holding the device. For example, a camera device (e.g., a Microsoft® Kinect motion capture device) may compare the face and movements of a user to the face and movements captured by the device itself.

In some embodiments, the authentication may be time and/or location dependent. For example, client device 120 may require a different authentication movement during working hours or at a public location. In some embodiments, the authentication movement may comprise a directional factor as a secondary criterion, such as requiring part of the movement to be in a northward direction, which may be detected by a compass component of client device 120.

If the user is determined not to be authenticated at stage 220, method 200 may advance to stage 230 where the computing device may capture information about the attempt to unlock. For example, client device 120 may take a picture of an unauthorized user attempting to unlock the device and/or may capture other biometric and/or environmental information. Otherwise, method 200 may advance to stage 235 where the computing device may unlock and/or grant access to the requested resources 132.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example use case 300 for providing device authentication using an accelerometer. In use case 300, a user 310 may interact with a user device 320 and/or a motion capture device 330. In some embodiments, user device 320 may comprise an embodiment of client device 120. User device 320 may comprise components such as an accelerometer 340 and a camera 360. Motion capture device 330 may comprise similar components.

In use case 300, user 310 may manipulate user device 320 by a first motion 380(A), such as raising user device 320, and a second motion 380(B), such as rotating user device 320 clockwise. These motions may be tracked and/or recorded by accelerometer 340. In some embodiments, the actions of user 310 may be tracked by camera 360 and/or motion capture device 330. The first motion 380(A) and second motion 380(B) may be compared to a recorded authentication movement associated with user 310 to determine if a request to unlock the device should be granted, as described above with respect to method 200.

The authentication movements may utilize increasing degrees of complexity to make attempts to impersonate the authorized user more difficult. A first degree of complexity may comprise a tilting movement based on tilting the four corners of user device 320. User 310 may set any combination of upper and lower right with upper and lower left corners up to N number of movements. For each N there are (N*(N−1)*N*(N−1)) combinations, which reflects all combinations without sequential duplicates. A user interface on user device 320 may display an indicator such as a marble that rolls to each corner as that corner is tilted down.

A second degree of complexity may comprise a movement across a flat surface, such as a table top. The accelerometer 340 may track movements of user device 320 in the X and Y-axis, but allows for near-infinite combinations. Some examples of movements may comprise a figure-8, a geometric shape (e.g., triangle, square, circle), a handwritten character, a smiley face drawing, and/or the outline of a table or desk.

A third degree of complexity, harder to impersonate than the first and second degrees, may comprise a movement through free space. Some possible combinations comprise a sequence of movements such as forward, up left, down, and then right, shaking user device 320, moving user device 320 as if conducting a symphony, user 310 moving their arms through a stretching or yoga exercise, and/or tracing a shape in the air. Each of the degrees of complexity may be increased by requiring additional movement components such as orienting the user device 320 in a particular compass direction.

The flowchart of FIG. 2 and use case of FIG. 3 show examples of the functionality and operation of implementations of components described herein. The components described herein can be embodied in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. If embodied in software, each element can represent a module of code or a portion of code that includes program instructions to implement the specified logical function(s). The program instructions can be embodied in the form of source code that includes human-readable statements written in a programming language or machine code that includes machine instructions recognizable by a suitable execution system, such as a processor in a computer system or other system. If embodied in hardware, each element can represent a circuit or a number of interconnected circuits that implement the specified logical function(s).

Although the flowchart of FIG. 2 and use case of FIG. 3 may show a specific order of execution, it is understood that the order of execution can differ from that which is shown. The order of execution of two or more elements can be switched relative to the order shown. Also, two or more elements shown in succession can be executed concurrently or with partial concurrence. Further, in some examples, one or more of the elements shown in the flowcharts can be skipped or omitted. In addition, any number of counters, state variables, warning semaphores, or messages might be added to the logical flow described herein, for purposes of enhanced utility, accounting, performance measurement, or troubleshooting aid. It is understood that all such variations are within the scope of the present disclosure.

The client device 120, authentication server 130, compliance server 140, or other components described herein can each include at least one processing circuit. Such a processing circuit can include one or more processors and one or more storage devices that are coupled to a local interface. The local interface can include a data bus with an accompanying address/control bus or any other suitable bus structure.

The one or more storage devices for a processing circuit can store data or components that are executable by the one or processors of the processing circuit. The agent application 122, authentication service 132, compliance service 144, or other components can be stored in one or more storage devices and be executable by one or more processors. Also, a data store, such as the data store 113 or the client data store 143, can be stored in the one or more storage devices.

The agent application 122, authentication service 132, compliance service 144, and other components described herein can be embodied in the form of hardware, as software components that are executable by hardware, or as a combination of software and hardware. If embodied as hardware, the components described herein can be implemented as a circuit or state machine that employs any suitable hardware technology. Such hardware technology can include one or more microprocessors, discrete logic circuits having logic gates for implementing various logic functions upon an application of one or more data signals, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) having appropriate logic gates, programmable logic devices (e.g., field-programmable gate array (FPGAs), and complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs)).

Also, one or more or more of the components described herein that includes software or program instructions can be embodied in any non-transitory computer-readable medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system such as a processor in a computer system or other system. The computer-readable medium can contain, store, or maintain the software or program instructions for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system.

The computer-readable medium can include physical media, such as, magnetic, optical, semiconductor, or other suitable media. Examples of a suitable computer-readable media include, but are not limited to, solid-state drives, magnetic drives, flash memory. Further, any logic or component described herein can be implemented and structured in a variety of ways. One or more components described can be implemented as modules or components of a single application. Further, one or more components described herein can be executed in one computing device or by using multiple computing devices.

It is emphasized that the above-described examples of the present disclosure are merely examples of implementations to set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the disclosure. Many variations and modifications can be made to the above-described examples without departing substantially from the spirit and principles of the disclosure. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure. In particular, while elements depicted in the FIGs. and described herein may be referred to in a particular case (i.e., singular or plural; e.g., resources 136), it is emphasized that such elements may be implemented in alternate cases (i.e., plural or singular, respectively; e.g., a resource 136) without departing from the spirit and principles of the disclosure.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program executable in a computing device, the program, when executed by the computing device, being configured to cause the computing device to at least:

capture data describing a change in a spatial position of the computing device from a first point in time to a second point in time;

capture data describing a change in a spatial position of an object within a field of view of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time;

determine whether the data describing the change in the spatial position of the object within the field of view of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time is expected based at least in part on the data describing the change in the spatial position of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time; and,

when the data describing the change in the spatial position of the object within the field of view of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time is expected based at least in part on the data describing the change in the spatial position of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time, authorize at least one resource to be accessed.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the data describing the change in the spatial position of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time comprises data describing a distance that the computing device moved from the first point in time to the second point in time.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the data describing the change in the spatial position of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time comprises data describing a direction that the computing device moved from the first point in time to the second point in time.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the data describing the change in the spatial position of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time comprises data describing a change in an orientation of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the data describing the change in the spatial position of the object within the field of view of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time comprises data describing a distance that the object within the field of view of the computing device moved from the first point in time to the second point in time.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the data describing the change in the spatial position of the object within the field of view of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time comprises data describing a direction that the object within the field of view of the computing device moved from the first point in time to the second point in time.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the data describing the change in the spatial position of the object within the field of view of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time comprises data describing a change in an orientation of the object within the field of view of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time.

8. A system, comprising:

at least one processor; and,

at least one memory comprising executable instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the processor to at least: capture data describing a change in a spatial position of a computing device from a first point in time to a second point in time; capture data describing a change in a spatial position of an object within a field of view of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time; determine whether the data describing the change in the spatial position of the object within the field of view of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time is expected based at least in part on the data describing the change in the spatial position of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time; and, when the data describing the change in the spatial position of the object within the field of view of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time is expected based at least in part on the data describing the change in the spatial position of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time, authorize at least one resource to be accessed.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the at least one memory further comprises executable instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:

identify a request to access the at least one resource.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the request comprises a request generated based at least in part on an action of a user of the computing device.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the request comprises a request generated based at least in part on an action of a user of a secondary computing device.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein authorizing the at least one resource to be accessed comprises authorizing a user of the computing device to access the at least one resource using the computing device.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein authorizing the at least one resource to be accessed comprises authorizing a user of a secondary computing device to access the at least one resource using the secondary computing device.

14. A method, comprising:

capturing data describing a change in a spatial position of a computing device from a first point in time to a second point in time;

capturing data describing a change in a spatial position of an object within a field of view of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time;

determining whether the data describing the change in the spatial position of the object within the field of view of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time is expected based at least in part on the data describing the change in the spatial position of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time; and,

when the data describing the change in the spatial position of the object within the field of view of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time is expected based at least in part on the data describing the change in the spatial position of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time, authorizing at least one resource to be accessed.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein authorizing at least one resource to be accessed comprises unlocking at least one function of at least one of: the computing device or a secondary computing device.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

when the data describing the change in the spatial position of the object within the field of view of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time is not expected based at least in part on the data describing the change in the spatial position of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time, preventing the at least one resource from being accessed.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the object within the field of view of the computing device comprises a user of the computing device.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining whether the data describing the change in the spatial position of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time is expected based at least in part on a pre-defined authentication movement associated with the user of the computing device; and,

when the data describing the change in the spatial position of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time is expected based at least in part on the pre-defined authentication movement associated with the user of the computing device, authorizing the user of the computing device to access the at least one resource.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the object within the field of view of the computing device comprises a user of a secondary computing device.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining whether the data describing the change in the spatial position of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time is expected based at least in part on a pre-defined authentication movement associated with the user of the secondary computing device; and,

when the data describing the change in the spatial position of the computing device from the first point in time to the second point in time is expected based at least in part on the pre-defined authentication movement associated with the user of the secondary computing device, authorizing the user of the secondary computing device to access the at least one resource.