Systems and methods for secure password entry

A method comprising:

• receiving, electronically by a processor, user-identifying information from a user;
• retrieving, electronically by the processor, a password for the user from a user account using the user-identifying information, wherein the password includes a number of total characters and a number of different characters;
• providing, electronically by the processor, an apparently random sequence of characters to the user;
• receiving, electronically by the processor, selected characters in the apparently random sequence of characters from the user, wherein the selected characters comprise fewer characters than the number of total characters in the password or fewer different characters than the number of different characters in the password;
• and
• comparing, electronically by the processor, the selected characters with the password to determine whether to authenticate the user.

A non-transitory machine-readable medium having a plurality of machine-readable instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of a server, are adapted to cause the server to perform a method comprising:

• receiving user-identifying information from a user;
• retrieving a password for the user from a user account using the user-identifying information, wherein the password includes a number of total characters and a number of different characters;
• providing an apparently random sequence of characters to the user;
• receiving selected characters in the apparently random sequence of characters from the user, wherein the selected characters comprise fewer characters than the number of total characters in the password or fewer different characters than the number of different characters in the password;
• and
• comparing the selected characters with the password to determine whether to authenticate the user.