Identification based on typing patterns between programming and free text

Identifying people based on their typing has been studied successfully in multiple different contexts. Previous research has shown that identification is possible based on writing predetermined texts such as typing passwords, free text such as essays, as well based on writing source code. In this work, we study typing pattern based identification when the text format and writing environment change. We replicate two earlier studies which suggested that typing profile identification works with programming data, and that it can be applied to a programming exam circumstances with decent results. Then, we examine how the identification accuracy changes when the user profiles are built using data from programming, and the identification is conducted on data from writing free text. Our results show that the identification accuracy is indeed high within the context of programming data, but drops when identifying essay typists based on typing profiles built from their programming data.