Jeong, BongkeumVallat, AlexanderCsikszentmihalyi, ChrisPark, JunwuPacheco, DulcePacheco, Dulce2026-06-052026-06-052019-05-02Jeong, B., Vallat, A., Csikszentmihalyi, C., Park, J., & Pacheco, D. (2019, May). MementoKey: Keeping passwords in mind. In Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-6).978-1-4503-5971-9/19/05http://hdl.handle.net/10400.13/7797In this paper, we introduce a novel system of password generation, MementoKey, consisting of private words that exist only in a user’s memory and a corresponding set of public (non-secret) words that will facilitate users’ recall of the private words, which they are associated with. We will demonstrate how MementoKey offers a useful alternative to existing options for storing passwords in password managers, or to using cryptographically weak, but memorable, passwords. We have conducted a user study to evaluate the word-association technique for recalling passwords, and the effectiveness of our prototype software training and checking system to guide the user successfully through the memorization process. Our study involving 60 diverse participants indicates that our prototype can effectively lead users through a visualization and memorization technique to create a strong word-association memory between pairs of adjectives and nouns.engCyber securityHuman and computer collaborationnPassword managerPasswords.Faculdade de Ciências Exatas e da Engenhariaconference paper10.1145/3290607.3313066