Blacklisting of frequently used gesture passwords

1. A method for blacklisting gesture based passwords, the method for implementation on a blacklist server and comprising:

receiving an index value from an electronic device that is physically separate from the blacklist server, the index value representing a gesture based password that was received by the electronic device and was not received by the blacklist server, the index value being a similarity-preserving index value, wherein the similarity-preserving index value is such that similar gestures are mapped to index values having low distance to each other;

increasing an occurrence of the received index value by one in a data store of index values;

determining if increasing the occurrence of the received index value in the data store results in a blacklist threshold being exceeded; and

if the blacklist threshold is exceeded, updating a blacklist stored on the blacklist server to include the received index value.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein updating the blacklist comprises only inputting the received index value to the blacklist if the received index value is missing from the blacklist.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a plurality of index values from an input interface to populate the data store; and

inputting the plurality of index values to the data store.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising: for each index value inputted to the data store, determining if a number of the index values in the data store having a value within a threshold range of the received index value exceeds a blacklist threshold and if the number exceeds the blacklist threshold, adding the received index value to a blacklist stored on the blacklist server.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining if increasing the occurrence of the received index value results in exceeding the blacklist threshold comprises determining if a number of the index values in the data store having a value within a threshold range of the received index value exceeds the blacklist threshold.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining if increasing the occurrence of the received index value results in a blacklist threshold being exceeded comprises determining if inputting the received index value results in a weight of a corresponding neuron in a self-organizing map exceeding a weight threshold.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising creating a self-organising map of neurons, the neurons representing input vectors corresponding to gestures.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein creating the self-organising map comprises:

receiving a plurality of gestures, each gesture being received multiple times at the same frequency as the other gestures;

converting each of the plurality of gestures into an input vector;

for each input vector, adapting a weight of a closest neuron in a direction of the input vector.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein creating the self-organising map comprises:

receiving a plurality of gestures, each gesture comprising one or more strokes and being received multiple times at the same frequency as the other gestures;

converting each stroke of the plurality of gestures into an input vector;

for each input vector, adapting a weight of a closest neuron in a direction of the input vector.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising assigning an index value to each neuron.

11. The method of claim 6 , further comprising transmitting a copy of the self-organising map to the electronic device.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

if the blacklist threshold is exceeded, transmitting a notification to the electronic device indicating that the gesture based password is blacklisted.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a user identifier associated with the received index value; and

storing the user identifier in the data store in association with the received index value.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the index value is non-invertible.

15. One or more non-transitory computer readable media having computer readable instructions stored thereon that when executed by a processor implement a method for blacklisting gesture based passwords, the method for implementation on a blacklist server and comprising:

receiving an index value from an electronic device that is physically separate from the blacklist server, the index value representing a gesture based password that was received by the electronic device and was not received by the blacklist server, the index value being a similarity-preserving index value, wherein the similarity-preserving index value is such that similar gestures are mapped to index values having low distance to each other;

increasing an occurrence of the received index value by one in a data store of index values;

determining if increasing the occurrence of the received index value in the data store results in a blacklist threshold being exceeded; and

if the blacklist threshold is exceeded, updating a blacklist stored on the blacklist server to include the received index value.

16. A server comprising:

a processor; and

a memory having computer readable instructions stored thereon for blacklisting gesture based passwords, the instructions when executed by the processor, direct the server to:

receive an index value from an electronic device that is physically separate from the blacklist server, the index value representing a gesture based password that was received by the electronic device and was not received by the blacklist server, the index value being a similarity-preserving index value,

wherein the similarity-preserving index value is such that similar gestures are mapped to index values having low distance to each other;

increase an occurrence of the received index value by one in a data store of index values;

determine if increasing the occurrence of the received index value in the data store results in a blacklist threshold being exceeded; and

if the blacklist threshold is exceeded, update a blacklist stored on the blacklist server to include the received index value.

17. The server of claim 16 wherein the instructions further direct the server to:

receive a plurality of index values from an input interface to populate the data store; and

input the plurality of index values to the data store.

18. The server of claim 17 wherein the instructions further direct the server to create a self-organising map of neurons, the neurons representing input vectors corresponding to gestures.

19. The server of claim 18 wherein the instructions further direct the server to:

receive a plurality of gestures, each gesture being received multiple times at the same frequency as the other gestures;

convert each of the plurality of gestures into an input vector; and

for each input vector, adapt a weight of a closest neuron in a direction of the input vector.

20. The server of claim 16 wherein the index value is non-invertible.