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Continuous Authentication Using Writing Style

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Biometric-Based Physical and Cybersecurity Systems

Abstract

The reinforcement of traditional static authentication by performing continuous authentication (CA) while the system is being used ensures that the user is legitimate throughout the computer usage. Stylometry can be a good candidate for CA since writing style can be acquired in a nonintrusive way and also is a good indicator of authorship. In using stylometry, the authentication process consists of comparing sample writing of an individual against the model or profile associated with the identity claimed by that individual at login time (i.e., one-to-one identity matching). Effective CA requires reauthenticating the user over a short period of time, which equates using a short text. Analyzing short texts is challenging since decision-making occurs on a limited amount of available information. High accuracy and resilience to forgery are other key challenges faced by CA. In this chapter, we discuss the key research challenges faced in using stylometry for CA, and we introduce an approach to tackle some of those challenges. Different classification techniques are investigated and evaluated using different public datasets, yielding encouraging performance results.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Available at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/∼enron/

  2. 2.

    Available at http://www.uvic.ca/engineering/ece/isot/datasets/

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business and Administrative – ESAG, Santa Catarina State University – Udesc, Florianópolis, Brazil

    Marcelo Luiz Brocardo

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Victoria – UVIC, Victoria, BC, Canada

    Issa Traore

  3. Department of Computer Science, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Isaac Woungang

Authors
  1. Marcelo Luiz Brocardo
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  2. Issa Traore
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  3. Isaac Woungang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marcelo Luiz Brocardo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. ECE Department, Nazrabayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan

    Mohammad S. Obaidat

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Victoria – UVIC, Victoria, BC, Canada

    Issa Traore

  3. Department of Computer Science, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Isaac Woungang

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Brocardo, M.L., Traore, I., Woungang, I. (2019). Continuous Authentication Using Writing Style. In: Obaidat, M., Traore, I., Woungang, I. (eds) Biometric-Based Physical and Cybersecurity Systems. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98734-7_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98734-7_8

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