The present invention includes a system and a method of validating an identity of a user using a pointing device by comparing a sampled mouse signature with an authenticated mouse signature. The method includes presenting a virtual pad including a background graphic image, a plurality of objects positioned on the background graphic image to a user. The user moves the pointing device to manipulate a cursor on the background graphic image. The method includes a step of sampling a plurality of events corresponding to positions of the cursor to provide a sampled mouse signature including a set of position vectors. The present invention includes comparing the sampled mouse signature to a stored mouse signature representing the identity of a user, and validating the identity of a user in response to the comparing step.