HM-Auth: Redefining User Authentication in Immersive Virtual World Through Hand Movement Signatures

In the realm of Virtual Reality (VR), passwords and pins are primary methods of user authentication for application and device access. Despite the well-documented security vulnerabilities associated with knowledge-based authentication methods, VR devices persist in utilizing them for user authentication. Due to these security vulnerabilities in existing authentication systems on VR devices, there is an increasing demand for more secure and robust authentication methods in the VR ecosystem. In this paper, we introduce HM-Auth, a user-authentication system that verifies a user's identity by leveraging the intrinsic hand movement signatures while users type predefined text on their VR screen. Experiments conducted on the hand movement patterns of 30 volunteer participants demonstrate that our Siamese Networks-based-HM-Auth model could achieve high intra-user and low inter-user similarity scores. The HM-Auth system effectively controls false acceptance by employing our symmetric rejection method, achieving a low False Acceptance Rate (FAR) of 0.08 at a False Reject Rate (FRR) of 0. The experimental analysis results highlight the HM-Auth's potential as a promising and secure authentication approach that is crafted for immersive environments.