An Agent-Based Modeling Approach to Free-Text Keyboard Dynamics for Continuous Authentication

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Dillon, Roberto, Arushi
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Dillon, Roberto
Arushi
author_facet Dillon, Roberto
Arushi
contents Continuous authentication systems leveraging free-text keyboard dynamics offer a promising additional layer of security in a multifactor authentication setup that can be used in a transparent way with no impact on user experience. This study investigates the efficacy of behavioral biometrics by employing an Agent-Based Model (ABM) to simulate diverse typing profiles across mechanical and membrane keyboards. Specifically, we generated synthetic keystroke data from five unique agents, capturing features related to dwell time, flight time, and error rates within sliding 5-second windows updated every second. Two machine learning approaches, One-Class Support Vector Machine (OC-SVM) and Random Forest (RF), were evaluated for user verification. Results revealed a stark contrast in performance: while One-Class SVM failed to differentiate individual users within each group, Random Forest achieved robust intra-keyboard user recognition (Accuracy > 0.7) but struggled to generalize across keyboards for the same user, highlighting the significant impact of keyboard hardware on typing behavior. These findings suggest that: (1) keyboard-specific user profiles may be necessary for reliable authentication, and (2) ensemble methods like RF outperform One-Class SVM in capturing fine-grained user-specific patterns.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_05015
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle An Agent-Based Modeling Approach to Free-Text Keyboard Dynamics for Continuous Authentication
Dillon, Roberto
Arushi
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Cryptography and Security
68T10, 62H30
I.2.6; I.5.4; I.6.3
Continuous authentication systems leveraging free-text keyboard dynamics offer a promising additional layer of security in a multifactor authentication setup that can be used in a transparent way with no impact on user experience. This study investigates the efficacy of behavioral biometrics by employing an Agent-Based Model (ABM) to simulate diverse typing profiles across mechanical and membrane keyboards. Specifically, we generated synthetic keystroke data from five unique agents, capturing features related to dwell time, flight time, and error rates within sliding 5-second windows updated every second. Two machine learning approaches, One-Class Support Vector Machine (OC-SVM) and Random Forest (RF), were evaluated for user verification. Results revealed a stark contrast in performance: while One-Class SVM failed to differentiate individual users within each group, Random Forest achieved robust intra-keyboard user recognition (Accuracy > 0.7) but struggled to generalize across keyboards for the same user, highlighting the significant impact of keyboard hardware on typing behavior. These findings suggest that: (1) keyboard-specific user profiles may be necessary for reliable authentication, and (2) ensemble methods like RF outperform One-Class SVM in capturing fine-grained user-specific patterns.
title An Agent-Based Modeling Approach to Free-Text Keyboard Dynamics for Continuous Authentication
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
Cryptography and Security
68T10, 62H30
I.2.6; I.5.4; I.6.3
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.05015