Continuous user authentication is essential in modern digital systems to prevent session hijacking, identity misuse, and insider attacks. Conventional authentication mechanisms rely on one-time verification and fail to ensure security throughout an active session. To address this limitation, behavioral and cognitive biometrics offer a non-intrusive and adaptive approach to user authentication. This project presents a conceptual study of SENTRY, an adaptive behavioral– cognitive authentication framework designed for continuous user verification. The proposed system monitors user interaction patterns such as keystroke and mouse dynamics and integrates cognitive responses obtained through adaptive micro-challenges. Machine learning techniques are employed to model user behavior and detect anomalies, while a dynamic risk scoring mechanism enables realtime authentication decisions. The framework emphasizes usability, privacy awareness, and scalability, providing a robust foundation for secure and continuous authentication in modern computing environments.
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SENTRY: A Conceptual Review of Behavioral and Cognitive Biometric Authentication
Semantic Scholar · 2026
Abstract
Continuous user authentication is essential in modern digital systems to prevent session hijacking, identity misuse, and insider attacks. Conventional authentication mechanisms rely on one-time verification and fail to ensure security throughout an active session. To address this limitation, behavioral and cognitive biometrics offer a non-intrusive and adaptive approach to user authentication. This project presents a conceptual study of SENTRY, an adaptive behavioral– cognitive authentication framework designed for continuous user verification. The proposed system monitors user interaction patterns such as keystroke and mouse dynamics and integrates cognitive responses obtained through adaptive micro-challenges. Machine learning techniques are employed to model user behavior and detect anomalies, while a dynamic risk scoring mechanism enables realtime authentication decisions. The framework emphasizes usability, privacy awareness, and scalability, providing a robust foundation for secure and continuous authentication in modern computing environments.