Tricking the eye to defeat shoulder surfing attacks

Researchers have developed the first application to combat ‘shoulder-surfing’ of PINS and passwords: a hybrid-image keyboard that appears one way to the close-up user and differently at a distance. The technology blends one image of a keyboard configuration with high spatial frequency and a completely different one with low spatial frequency. Experiments showed it was effective for mobile phones and when video cameras recorded PIN entry, as might happen at an ATM.