Pick and Sort for Graphical Authentication
Abstract
We propose a graphical authentication scheme that follows a simple ``Pick and Sort'' design in which users choose visual elements and arrange them within a grid. Both the number of selected elements and the grid size are configurable, and the visual elements can be customized for specific user groups, such as children. A preliminary study with a prototype implementation indicated that the scheme is easy to learn and flexible to deploy. Although login times are longer than those of conventional authentication methods, the additional interaction may be acceptable in scenarios that are not time-critical, such as infrequent-access use cases or as a secondary authentication mechanism.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2605.00558,
title = {Pick and Sort for Graphical Authentication},
author = {Argianto Rahartomo and AmirHossein Jamshidipoor and Mohammad Ghafari},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.00558},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
The paper is accepted for publication at the International Workshop on Software Security 2026 (co-located with EASE 2026)