Skip to main content

Passwords are so last season, ‘pass-thoughts’ let you log in with your mind

brainwave-authentication
Image used with permission by copyright holder

We try to make our passwords as secure as possible, but sometimes even complicated character strings can be vulnerable. That’s why companies, researchers, and organizations continue to search for ways to make accessing devices and accounts more secure. Google, for one, wants to replace passwords with USB sticks and smart rings. A team of researchers from the UC Berkeley School of Information, on the other hand, devised a way to unlock gadgets and accounts with brain waves. 

To be able to use “pass-thoughts,” as the team calls them, instead of passwords, the team took an affordable and readily available Bluetooth headset with built-in electroencephalogram (EEG) called Neurosky Mindset. Previously, using pass-thoughts would’ve been considered unfeasible because EEG devices are very expensive, but a $199 headset might make using pass-thoughts a reality. The team used Neurosky on test subjects and found that in order for the headset to provide enough brainwave signal, they had to make users perform seven mental tasks and then calibrate the headset for each one of them so nobody else’s thoughts can unlock their devices and accounts.

Recommended Videos

The team determined that the most effective way to implement pass-thoughts is to ask users to perform a mental task that’s not too complicated or boring. According to tests conducted, users were bored by imagining their fingers sliding up and down to unlock something, but when they were asked to make up their own pass-thoughts, they came up with something too complicated and hard to recreate. The tasks researchers found most effective are singing a song of one’s choice, counting objects with the same color, and focusing on one’s breathing. Calibrating the headsets and using these mental tasks to serve as one’s pass-thought returned error rates of less then 1 percent. 

The team presented their findings at the 2013 Workshop on Usable Security at the 17th international conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security in Japan in early April. While the UC Berkeley team’s method sounds very promising, more research needs to be done, and companies must be willing to make the investment in EEG-enabled headsets before pass-thoughts become widely used.

[Image via UC Berkeley School of Information]

Mariella Moon
Mariella loves working on both helpful and awe-inspiring science and technology stories. When she's not at her desk writing…
Pocket is about to close. Use this read-it-later app instead
A woman looking at her phone.

Read-it-later app Pocket is closing down in just a week’s time, so if you’re still using it, now’s the time to switch to a similar app.

As an avid user of Pocket pretty much since it launched in 2007 as Read It Later, I felt a little sad to receive a message in May informing me that it would be shutting down on July 8.

Read more
A coding blunder just ruined a moment of joy for lottery winners
Eurojackpot lottery slips.

Imagine the joy of being notified of a huge lottery win. What would be the first thing you’d do? Get the champagne in? Book a fancy vacation? Call your boss and tell him where to go?

And then imagine being informed that the notification had, in fact, been sent in error. Well, you can always send the booze back and cancel the holiday, but trying to convince your boss that you were just joking ... well, that may be a bigger challenge.

Read more
This TP-Link Wi-Fi 6 router is 45% off in early Prime Day deal
The TP-Link AX1800 Archer AX21 Wi-FI 6 Router on a white background.

If you're planning to buy a new router to improve your home's Wi-Fi network, the good news is that you don't have to wait for Prime Day 2025 to take advantage of huge discounts on router deals from Amazon. Here's an excellent offer — the TP-Link Archer AX21 with an eye-catching 45% discount, which drops its price from $100 to just $55. The $45 in savings will only be available for a limited time though, so you better act fast and proceed with your purchase immediately as this early Prime Day deal may disappear at any moment.

Buy Now

Read more