A new password based authentication method combining textual and graphical elements

When security systems are considered as a whole, the first and perhaps the most important part is authentication. Due to reasons such as not requiring special hardware and ease of use, the most used authentication methods are the ones based on passwords. Yet, the fact that users choose easy-to-guess texts as passwords makes all the precautions the security systems try to take void. Based on the fact that human?s picture memory is superior to his verbal memory, many graphical password methods were developed but these methods have not replaced text based passwords in practice. In this study, a new password based authentication method, which is based on both text and graphical elements and that needs fewer changes in user behaviour, is put forward. In the empirical studies carried out, the new method so called ?Type&Click? is found to be more successful in terms of long-term memorable and user satisfaction when compared to text only and graphical only password methods.