SoK: Inaccessible & Insecure: An Exposition of Authentication Challenges Faced by Blind and Visually Impaired Users in State-of-the-Art Academic Proposals

Despite the proliferation of advanced authentication methods in the academic research literature, it is not clear whether these methods would be suitable for blind and visually impaired users in terms of accessibility and security. To address this issue, we first developed the Authentication Literature Evaluation for Security and Accessibility (ALESA) framework consisting of 5 accessibility and 8 security features to measure the accessibility and security of these methods. Then, using this framework, we systematically evaluated 37 selected general-purpose academic authentication schemes if they were to be used by blind and visually impaired users and also explored 13 selected authentication schemes specifically designed for blind and visually impaired users, categorizing each type of scheme according to its underlying user interaction method. Our analysis reveals that many studied schemes may not only be insecure but also often fail to meet the specific needs of blind and visually impaired users, even when specifically designed for them. We found that most schemes struggle to balance accessibility and security, with many security issues arising from accessibility challenges, particularly in screen reader-assisted interaction scenarios. Our research urges researchers, developers, and policymakers to address these gaps and develop secure, accessible solutions for blind users.