FingerID: A new security model based on fingerprint recognition for personal learning environments (PLEs)

The current practice of password based security for PLEs in general and the Internet in particular is inadequate. The widespread authentication mechanism of username and password is out-dated, and does not meet current needs. Intruders and hackers have also learnt, and become more tech savvy. Besides, remembering a plethora of long passwords and passphrases, sometimes as many as 15 or 20, is cumbersome. This raises the need to introduce a better and more reliable authentication mechanism which is not dependent on a series of characters, but rather on a technology that is unique and only possessed by the individual. Similar services already exist, and they are good in some situations, but prove to be inadequate under other circumstances. In this paper, we propose a one-stop solution to eliminate all these problems, named FingerID. This solution will make the experience of access to distributed web accounts a more secure, accessible and usable one. This solution has been developed, tested, and proven. The findings of this paper will revolutionise the entire authentication mechanism on the web, and thereby enable the user access to distributed accounts at a single point.