RingAuth: user authentication using a smart ring

Conference item

We show that by using inertial sensor data generated by a smart ring, worn on the finger, the user can be authenticated when making mobile payments or when knocking on a door (for access control purposes). We also demonstrate that smart ring data can authenticate payments made with a smartwatch, and vice versa, such that either device can act as an implicit second factor for the other when worn on the same arm. To validate the system, we conducted a user study (n=21) to collect finger and wrist motion data from users as they perform gestures, and we evaluate the system against an active impersonation attacker. We develop payment authentication and access control models for which we achieve equal error rates of 0.04 and 0.02, respectively.

Authors: Sturgess, J; Birnbach, S; Eberz, S; Martinovic, I

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: SciTePress
• Host title: Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Security and Cryptography - SECRYPT
• Volume: 1
• Pages: 96-107
• Publication date: 2025-06-11
• Acceptance date: 2025-03-17
• Event title: 22nd International Conference on Security and Cryptography (SECRYPT 2026)
• Event location: Bilbao, Spain
• Event website: https://secrypt.scitevents.org
• Event start date: 2025-06-11
• Event end date: 2025-06-13
• DOI: 10.5220/0013494900003979
• ISSN: 2184-7711
• ISBN: 978-989-758-760-3
• Language: English
• Keywords: authentication; smart ring; smartwatch; wearable; mobile payment; access control; gesture; biometrics