Mobile Device Lock/Unlock

One-Time Passwords for Smartphones & Tablets

In a survey by Search Mobile Computing, 70% of businesses indicated that loss or theft of mobile devices was the top security concern. Yet, only half of companies participating in the survey had a policy requiring power-on passwords, and just 41% enforced the policy.

Organizations can help prevent unauthorized use of employees’ lost or stolen mobile devices by requiring an image-based password to unlock the device.

The problem in the past has been that device unlock passwords -- if used at all -- are typically a short, 4 digit PIN. Such short PINs are very low entropy and easily guessed or broken by hackers. If there is keystroke logging malware on the user's phone, the PIN is immediately compromised.

Image-based passwords are an easy and secure way to protect mobile devices from unauthorized use.

To establish their password, users select several categories of things they can easily remember. To unlock the device, they simply identify the pictures that fit their categories.

The specific pictures and their location on the grid are different each time, essentially creating a one-time password every time. This makes it secure against keystroke logging malware that may be on the device, and prevents someone from being able to determine the user's password by observing the fingerprint marks on the device's display screen. All the user has to do is remember their few categories and look for the pictures that fit those categories.

For more information on our mobile solutions, including deployment options and native applications, contact us or start a free trial today.