Apparatus and method for protecting a computer system

摘要

There is disclosed an apparatus and method for protecting a computer system by providing an improved password to prevent unauthorized access to the computer system. The apparatus of the present invention generally comprises a password controller capable of comparing a received password attempt with a stored password. The stored password of the present invention comprises a time envelope that comprises at least one password segment comprising: 1) an entry event; 2) a predetermined time interval following the entry event; and 3) a terminating signal to mark the end of the password segment. Access to the computer system is authorized when password segments of a password attempt match the corresponding password segments of the stored password. The stored password of the present invention generally comprises groups of computer readable characters separated by time intervals of variable length. A time delay is added to each response to a password attempt in order to conceal the length of the time intervals within the stored password.