3 ms·

Judging by the photo at the end the reason the author's locking code was defeated so quickly is that although the input mechanism used doesn't work quite like a

Judging by the photo at the end the reason the author's locking code was defeated so quickly is that although the input mechanism used doesn't work quite like a traditional keyboard it is a common keyboard pattern. Keyboard patterns in passwords are an actual research subject [1], and a pretty interesting one at that. There's at least one practical JavaScript-based password quality meter that can find spatial patterns in QWERTY passwords [2] like "bgtyujmnh", which the author's code is similar to. The meter is actually quite interesting to play with. On a related note, it's nice to see Pascal still used for fun but the fact that it's a version from almost 20 years ago doesn't help the language's image. If are curious about Pascal and think you might want to write some code in it today I'd suggest you try Free Pascal [3], a modern, FOSS, object-oriented 32/64-bit Pascal compiler based largely on Borland's own dialect that even has a good recreation of Borland/Turbo Pascal's Turbo Vision IDE [4] if you want one. [1] See http://www.usafa.edu/df/dfe/dfer/centers/accr/docs/schweitzer2009a.pdf http://www.usafa.edu/df/dfe/dfer/centers/accr/docs/schweitze..., http://www.ijicic.org/ijicic-10-09032.pdf http://www.ijicic.org/ijicic-10-09032.pdf, etc. [2] https://www.cygnius.net/snippets/passtest.html https://www.cygnius.net/snippets/passtest.html [3] http://www.freepascal.org/ http://www.freepascal.org/ [4] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/FPIDE_1.0.10_de.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/FPIDE_1....

mistercow 14y ago
I don't think that was the takeaway. I think the vulnerability was that she could see the pattern in the hand-grease on the phone. It wouldn't have mattered if he hadn't used a common pattern, because the path of the finger would still be obvious. The fix is to wipe off your screen after you lock it.
- networked 14y ago
  I guess you're right. I was thinking along the lines of "a less common pattern is less likely to be noticed and tried correctly the first time around and by then the traces left of it are ruined" but now that I've looked at the photo again I see this is probably wrong. On a phone like that any grease pattern should be pretty obvious.

mistercow 14y ago

I don't think that was the takeaway. I think the vulnerability was that she could see the pattern in the hand-grease on the phone. It wouldn't have mattered if he hadn't used a common pattern, because the path of the finger would still be obvious. The fix is to wipe off your screen after you lock it.

networked 14y ago
I guess you're right. I was thinking along the lines of "a less common pattern is less likely to be noticed and tried correctly the first time around and by then the traces left of it are ruined" but now that I've looked at the photo again I see this is probably wrong. On a phone like that any grease pattern should be pretty obvious.