A Review on Secure Authentication Mechanisms for Mobile Security

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Information Security
• Mobile Computing

Background:

• Cybersecurity is fundamental to the Internet of Things (IoT), with authentication serving as a critical security layer.
• Traditional password-based authentication presents usability and security challenges, particularly in mobile environments.
• Mobile networks face unique authentication hurdles due to user mobility, diverse attack vectors, and device limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the evolution and current state of mobile authentication schemes.
• To categorize and analyze various modern mobile authentication methods.
• To evaluate the strengths and limitations of these schemes concerning security and usability.

Main Methods:

• Comprehensive literature review of mobile authentication schemes.
• Categorization of methods into password, graphical, behavioral, keystroke, biometric, touchscreen, color, and gaze-based approaches.
• Analysis of strengths, limitations, security, and usability challenges.

Main Results:

• Identified diverse mobile authentication techniques beyond traditional passwords.
• Highlighted the trade-offs between security and usability in different methods.
• Discussed standard datasets and performance evaluation metrics for mobile authentication.

Conclusions:

• Mobile authentication is a complex, evolving field with no single perfect solution.
• Further research is needed to address security and usability gaps in emerging authentication technologies.
• Future directions include developing robust, privacy-preserving authentication for mobile IoT ecosystems.