BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

This invention generally provides functionality for increasing password security, and more specifically provides functionality for increasing the security of passwords by using dummy characters intermixed with the actual characters of the password.

Description of the Related Art

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to protect their user accounts from being hacked or otherwise improperly accessed by nefarious users. A key component of keeping user accounts (and their related information) safe is the user of passwords. However, in our increasingly busy and hectic world, another person is often standing nearby when a user enters his or her password. If such people so desire, they can fairly easily observe the sequence of characters entered by the user (such as, e.g., by watching to see which keys the user pushed, and in what sequence). Alternatively, cameras or other technology can also be used to determine this information, especially if the information protected by the user's login credentials is sufficiently valuable to someone else. After identifying the specific sequence of keys entered when a user is entering his or her password, a nefarious person or entity can then simply enter those same characters (along with the user's username, which, unlike a password, typically is openly displayed during the login process for anyone nearby to easily observe) on a different machine and thereby improperly access (or “hack” into) the innocent user's account. Therefore, functionality is desirable to protect and disguise a user's password from people who may observe the user entering that password and wishing to use that password to hack into that user's account.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This Summary provides a simplified form of concepts that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key or essential features and should therefore not be used for determining or limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.

The disclosure generally includes methods, computer program products, computer systems, and the like, that provide for creating and using dummy characters to provide enhanced security of a user's login credentials. The functionality disclosed herein provides specific steps for the creation, evaluation, storage, and use of such dummy characters in conjunction with a user's login credentials. As described more fully herein, dummy characters can be thought of as characters that are not part of a user's actual password, but which are mixed in and around the actual characters when the password is being entered, in order to protect a user's true password from prying eyes and other nefarious actors. These dummy characters can also be associated with a specific device or devices associated with a specific user. This prevents a nefarious actor from simply repeating the entire password string (including the dummy characters) on a device that is not associated with the user whose credentials the nefarious actor is attempting to misappropriate. Moreover, because the dummy characters are not part of the actual password, this functionality enables a user to enter many “different” password strings that all ultimately evaluate to the user's actual password when processed by the systems, methods, and other functionality described herein.

