Security has been an issue from the inception of computer systems and experts have related security issues with usability. Secured systems must be usable to maintain intended security. Password Authentication Systems have either been usable and not secure, or secure and not usable. Increasing either tends to complicate the other. Text passwords are widely used but suffer from poor usability, reducing its security. Graphical Passwords, while usable, does not seem to have the security necessary to replace text passwords. Attempts using text or graphics only have mixed results. A combination password is proposed as a potential solution to the problem. This paper explores combination as a means of solving this password problem. We implemented three password systems: Text only, Graphics only and a Combination of Text and Graphics. Remote evaluations were conducted with 105 computer science students. Results from our evaluations, though not conclusive, suggest promise for combination passwords.
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