Vision: Exploring Challenges and Opportunities for Usable Authentication in the Smart Home

Abstract

In this work, we explore designs and possible threats of current smart home environments to support the design of novel authentication mechanisms. Our work is motivated by the ever increasing number of smart devices in people's homes that are meant to enhance users' daily life. Examples for such devices include, but are not limited to, smart TVs, cleaning robots, devices for health and well-being, as well as for cooking. Such devices are capable of collecting sensitive data and subsequently derive information, for example, whether a user is at home, how often they cook or watch TV, etc. To understand possible threats emerging from smart devices being capable of accessing sensitive data, we first chart a design and problem space. Our work is complemented by an in-depth discussion on future research directions and challenges as well as how threats can be mitigated by visionary novel authentication approaches.