Brainwave Authentication: An Impenetrable Security System

We humans have been taking security measures from an incredibly long time, right from hiding precious things in deep and dark caverns to encrypting data using ridiculously difficult passwords. The most widely used security system, i.e.​ Username and Password​ system has now been proved weak due to lack of efficacy. 

In recent years, Biometric Authentication ​​methods have been receiving a lot of attention. The design of the biometric system requires human biological physical characteristics such as fingerprints, ear, face, and palmprint, etc. The general problems of these characteristics are its easy acquisition process therefore the numbers of attack vectors are associated with them. To reduce the chances of attacks in authentication systems research has taken the direction to Brainwaves​ based authentication systems.

In Brainwaves authentication systems​​, the idea is for a person to authenticate their identity with electroencephalogram (EEG) readings. For example, instead of demanding a passcode, a computer could display a series of words on a screen and measure the user’s response via an EEG headset. EEG signatures are unique and are more complex than a standard password, making them difficult to hack.

EEG is the electrical activity of the brain which is recorded by measuring the voltage fluctuations on the scalp surface with the simple placement of the electrodes on the skin. The electrical activities and brain signals are different for each person and cannot be faked or duplicated. Hence Electroencephalogram (EEG)​ graphs are unique for each individual, and it looks like this:

  

Inside one’s mind:

When a person looks at a photograph or hears a piece of music, the brain responds in ways that can be measured with electrical sensors. Researchers discovered that every person’s brain responds differently to an external stimulus, which means even if two people look at the same photograph, the readings of their brain activity will be different. This presents an opportunity to generate a unique combination that can serve as a password, which is obtained from what we call as brainwaves.

Brainwaves are oscillating electrical voltages in the brain measuring just a few millionths of a volt. Frequency band states; Gamma, Beta, Alpha, Theta, and Delta have certain characteristics defying specific mind states like concentrated, anxious, relaxing or freaking out, focused, or sleepy.

Datasets obtained could include EEG signals recorded for different people with different mental tasks. These tasks may include: letter or math-related tasks, visual counting, looking at some photographs, etc. and while the brain is performing them the EEG signals are recorded.

The accuracy for this kind of system is 95% at present and research is at full swing to increase the accuracy to more than 99% and find a cheaper and more reliable implementation technique. While fingerprints can be copied very easily, copying EEG is a Herculean task making it practically impossible to breach through this system.

There have been various patents for EEG authentication model, but this model is in the initial phase of development and hence there are many issues which need to be tackled, like, EEG is a graphical representation of electric signals emerging from brain, so if a person is very happy or is very sad performing a behavioral activity or task in an emergency will result in a change in the brain signals due to emotional stress and so his EEG might be a bit different, same is the case if a person is on some sedating drug, alcohol, etc.

Now here’s a challenge for you:
  
What happens if a person is asleep and is dreaming, would he unknowingly give away his security codes?  

And, do not forget to share this article with others. Follow this link​ to find a working model.

Refer to the following articles for more:

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8776850

https://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~chuang/passthoughts/