Bend Passwords on BendyPass: A User Authentication Method for People with Vision Impairment

People with vision impairment are concerned about entering passwords in public as accessibility features (e.g. screen readers and screen magnifiers) make their passwords more vulnerable to attackers. This project aims to use bend passwords to solve this accessibility issue, as they are harder to observe than PINs. Bend passwords are a recently proposed method for user authentication that uses a combination of predefined bend and fold gestures performed on a flexible device. Our inexpensive prototype called BendyPass is made of silicone, with flex sensors able to capture and verify bend passwords, a vibration motor for gesture input haptic feedback, and a button to delete the last gesture or confirm the password. Bend passwords entered on BendyPass provide a tactile method for user authentication, designed to reduce the vulnerability to attackers and help people with vision impairment to better protect their personal information.