Ask Me Again But Don't Annoy Me: Evaluating Re-authentication Strategies for Smartphones

Re-authenticating users may be necessary for smartphone authentication schemes that leverage user behaviour, device context, or task sensitivity. However, due to the unpredictable nature of re-authentication, users may get annoyed when they have to use the default, non-transparent authentication prompt for re-authentication. We address this concern by proposing several re-authentication configurations with varying levels of screen transparency and an optional time delay before displaying the authentication prompt. We conduct user studies with 30 participants to evaluate the usability and security perceptions of these configurations. We find that participants respond positively to our proposed changes and utilize the time delay while they are anticipating to get an authentication prompt to complete their current task. Though our findings indicate no differences in terms of task performance against these configurations, we find that the participants’ preferences for the configurations are context-based. They generally prefer the reauthentication configuration with a non-transparent background for sensitive applications, such as banking and photo apps, while their preferences are inclined towards convenient, usable configurations for medium and low sensitive apps or while they are using their devices at home. We conclude with suggestions to improve the design of our proposed configurations as well as a discussion of guidelines for future implementations of re-authentication schemes.