Method of registering and authenticating a user of an online system

1. A method of registering a new user of an online system comprising the steps of:

creating a base grid for the user, the base grid comprising a re-creatable pseudo-randomized grid that is unique to the user;

receiving and confirming an input from a user comprising a passcode, wherein the passcode comprises an indication of an ordered set of cells in a generated grid, said generated grid comprising a plurality of cells each containing a character;

generating a passcode identifier from the passcode;

generating a grid salt for the user;

generating user identifying information for the user;

splitting the passcode identifier into k parts using a secret sharing algorithm wherein:

q of the k parts are required to regenerate the passcode identifier and k≥q;

3=q;

a first part is assigned to be an X-SID and is stored in a first location in an array;

a second part is assigned to be a Y-SID and is stored in a second location in the array;

a third part is assigned to be a Z-SID and is stored in a third location; and

p of the k parts are discarded and p≥0; and wherein

a X-OTC and a Y-OTC are read from the base grid using the user's passcode;

the X-OTC is used as an index for the first part in the array and the position of the first part in the array is returned as x-delta;

the Y-OTC is used as an index for the second part in the array; and

the position of the second part in the array is returned as y-delta;

the third part is stored with the user identifying information;

a user token comprising a version, a creation date, an expiry date, the grid salt, x-delta, y-delta, and Z-SID is generated; and

the user token is encrypted and passed back to the user for storage.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein p≥1.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the shape of the generated grid and the number of cells of the generated grid are selected by the user.

4. A method according to claim 3 , wherein the generated grid comprises at least 6×6 cells.

5. A method of authenticating a user of an online system that has registered using the method of claim 1 , the method comprising the steps of:

generating a challenge code for the user;

generating a generated grid for the user having a pseudo-random character at each cell generated from the challenge code;

receiving an input from the user comprising an indication of their passcode, being an ordered set of cells in the generated grid, a credential, and their user token;

decrypting the user token and generating the user's base grid from the decrypted user token;

obtaining x-delta, y-delta, Z-SID and the grid salt for the user from the decrypted user token;

regenerating the generated grid presented to the user from the grid salt; and

identifying all the possible passcodes in the generated grid from the indication of the passcode received from the user;

i) retrieving an X-SID and a Y-SID of a passcode identifier from the array for the one of the possible passcodes using the x-delta and y-delta;

ii) regenerating a passcode identifier associated with the user from the X-SID, Y-SID, and Z-SID using the secret sharing algorithm; and

iii) authenticating the user if the regenerated passcode identifier matches the passcode identifier generated from the input;

iv) repeating steps (i) to (iii) for a subsequent one of the possible passcodes if the regenerated passcode identifier does not match the passcode identifier generated from the input;

v) denying authentication of the user if the regenerated passcode identifier does not match the passcode identifier generated from the input for any of the possible passcodes.

6. A method according to claim 5 , wherein the input from the user comprises the string of characters located in the ordered set of cells.

7. A method according to claim 5 , wherein the input from the user comprises a plurality of user gestures indicating the ordered set of cells.