A system and method are disclosed for protecting a password assigned to a user, the method comprising: providing a password entry screen having a virtual keyboard, the virtual keyboard including a plurality of character keys arranged in a non-QWERTY format; authenticating the user if a password submitted by the user accessing the password entry screen matches a user password retrieved from a password database; and denying access to the user if the submitted password does not match the retrieved user password. The system comprises a storage module and a computer program for performing the method.