Similar to the `smudge test' approach of narrowing down the password digits on all touchscreen devices, the app is reportedly much more effective, allowing the keylogger app to record user keystrokes relatively reliably, Infosecurity understands.
According to the Geek newswire, the associate professor – Hao Chen – realised that most smartphones come with an accelerometer and gyroscope as standard.
Chen's initial experiments, says the newswire, created a TouchLogger app running on HTC Evo 4G running the Google Android operating system with a numbers-only touchscreen keyboard layout.
“He discovered that the shift (the striking force of finger tap and supporting hand resistance) and rotation (the landing location of finger and supporting hand location) of a device can be tracked by logging the movement of the smartphone in the x and y-axis”, says the newswire.
“In total, 449 keystrokes were logged of which 321 were guessed correctly. Although not perfect, that is still 71.5% accuracy on a first test. That is sure to improve with more development time”, the newswire adds.