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| January 22, 2007
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Dear readers,
The Biometrics Info provides you with the latest news on biometrics, smartcards and network security. We provide you with this free service 2 or 3 times a week depending on the news available.
We provide a RSS feed for daily use. During the week all the news will be available through the RSS feed with a weekly summary on friday through the Biometrics Info e-zine.
We carefully selected the newsarticles for this Biometrics Info and we hope you appreciate this edition.
Enjoy reading.
Reinier M. van der Drift
BioXS
English
Biometric ATMs coming to rural India
Considering all the ATM hacking that's been going on of late, it's not all that surprising to see those "uber-secure" fingerprint readers hitting mini-banks in Japan and Columbia, and now a pilot program is getting set to install 15 biometric ATMs at "village kiosks in five districts across southern India." The fingerprint-reading machines are expected to serve around 100,000 workers, primarily farmers and other laborers, who will finally be able to withdraw funds directly from a machine rather than suffering through the corrupt hand-me-down process that often steals money away from already poor workers. AGS Infotech, who is supplying the first batch of systems for the trial, is interested in seeing if the system actually works out, as many villagers have trouble interacting with any type of computing interface, and because many villages have their own dialects, making a UI that can communicate to everyone is difficult.
Partnering with identiMetrics Finger Scanning Software is Just Good Business Reports Owen Group General Manager
MALVERN, PA – identiMetrics, a recognized leader in the development and marketing of biometric finger scanning identification solutions with their proprietary software, identiFi™, heads the A List for the Owen Group, LLC, according to General Manager, Norm Rischbieter.
The Owen Group South East is headquartered in Trenton, South Carolina. Like its sister company, Retail Dynamics Inc., headquartered in Albany New York, the Owen Group is dedicated to providing schools, institutions and businesses from Virginia to Florida with cost-effective biometric identification systems. They exclusively sell, install and support identiFi in the education market throughout the Southeast, and are expanding into other markets, as well.
FindBiometrics
Date: 2007-01-20 |
Now, biometric ID system for Delhi courts
To track staff, convicts and bondsmen; database to link up with Tihar and Delhi Police records
New Delhi, January 20: A cutting-edge fingerprint identification system to be put in place across Delhi courts shortly will effectively mean that anyone — convict or surety provider or staff — wishing to misrepresent himself, tamper or misplace court records will have to put together an operation on the lines of Tom Cruise and Jean Reno in Mission: Impossible.
The Delhi District Courts Judicial Committee, fresh from a successful computerisation programme in courts here, has decided on implementing the Biometric Authentication system.
Dehli Newsline
Date: 2007-01-20 |
Look Who's Talking
As fraudsters find it harder to violate online bank accounts, they are turning to telephone banking. Juan Pablo Conti shows how voice biometrics could make them think twice before dialling in.
"Fraudsters are a very innovative, entrepreneurial bunch. As soon as you block them in one place or this place becomes too difficult or not profitable enough for them to attack, they move elsewhere,” says Andrew Moloney, head of international marketing with RSA, the security division of information management group EMC.
He is talking specifically about a growing trend in the financial world for criminals to focus their efforts on the telephone banking channel. They are being attracted to it for two main reasons. First, because the security industry is finally starting to catch up with online fraudsters and, secondly, banks are finding ways to prevent phishing and similar Internet-related scams. On the other hand, they seem to have underestimated the risks they are exposed to through their call centres.
Network for engineers
Date: 2007-01-20 |
Cyberthreat experts to meet at secretive conference
Internet security experts are gathering at a secretive conference later this week to strategize in their fight against cybercriminals.
The meeting on Thursday and Friday at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash. headquarters is slated to bring together representatives from security companies and government and law enforcement officials, as well as others involved in network security. The agenda focuses on botnets and related topics, seen by experts as a prime threat to the Internet.
"Unlike most other security conferences, we allow only members of the different relevant groups access, and we discuss organized crime and threats across borders…with a strong lean toward how we can make things better," said Gadi Evron, an evangelist at security firm Beyond Security and organizer of the event.
DHS Outsources R&D Work to L-1
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has outsourced an R&D contract valued at USD1.7 million to L-1 Identity Solutions, a US-based provider of biometric products and solutions to the public and private sector. The contract is expected to be completed in about one and a half years.
Under the terms of the contract, L-1 will be responsible for developing facial recognition technology for the Federal Air Marshal Service of the Transportation Security Administration. The company will conduct R&D for a database system of the air marshal service having details of suspicious activity, incident and arrest reports, etc. The contract entails L-1 to provide a new software to be used with the database’s existing image analysis capabilities.
GlobalSourcingNOW
Date: 2007-01-22 |
20% discount for EBF members at Airport Passenger Summit
EBF members are being offered a 20% discount to attend the Global Passenger Operations Summit in London on 26-27 April 2007. The event examines the fine balance between the need for security and efficiency in the world's airports, particularly at security check-points.
Speakers include Andrea Baroni, Head of Operations, Zurich Airport; Dirk Schusdziara, Chief Operation Officer, Cairo International Airport, Egypt and Marcel van Beek, Head of Passenger Processing, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.
The event, organised by London Business Conferences and taking place at One Whitehall Place (London), aims to help airports maximise profits through efficiently processing happy passengers, safely and securely.
In-car technology drives forward
They say many things about the Americans, but one thing that is true is that they love their cars - and they love accessorising them too.
Finding a free parking space could soon become easier. In-car technology, or telematics, is a thriving business in the Unites States. At the recent CES technology show in Vegas they showed-off dashboard TV screens to watch whilst you waited for a parking space. But other technology aims to make sure that you don't even have to wait. Big city car parks are often full, so one US satellite radio station is aiming to stream information about space availability directly into the cockpit.
vnunet.com comment: Clive Longbottom asks how secure are you?
Never overlook the importance of physical security
Clive Longbottom, service director at Quocirca, vnunet.com 19 Jan 2007
I've been spending a little time with some of the big hosting companies lately, and of course, they have been keen to ensure that I am aware of all the technological capabilities that they can provide to their customers.
However, I have to say that it is not the technology that has been impressing me the most. Sure, seeing well-laid out servers with neat wiring and with all that storage lined up is good, but I can see pretty much the same when I look at any reasonably large data centre in a private organisation.
BofA Uses G&D Technology in Mobile Phone Trial
Jan 19 2007 : Bank of America (BofA) is using German smart card vendor Giesecke & Devrient's over-the-air (OTA) personalization technology in its U.S mobile payments trial.
BofA has issued Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled mobile phones to 500 staff at its offices in Wilmington, Delaware in order to test consumer acceptance of contactless payments. The handsets, which contain embedded MasterCard PayPass chips, can be used to purchase items at contactless-enabled point-of-sale terminals and vending machines.
For the trial, Giesecke & Devrient has supplied BofA with its secure chip management technology, which enables a payment application to be stored on a mobile phone's smartcard. The smart card can then be activated over the air by a mobile phone operator and personalized applications loaded onto the handset.
Security advice wrap-up
If you've been keeping up with our security news and advice during the past six months, you can probably ace this short quiz. But if you aren't up to date, never fear -- you can catch up on the latest SMB security information just by taking the quiz and noting the correct answers.
Computer Weekly
Date: 2007-01-18 |
Payment by fingerprint ready for checkout near you
NEW YORK — A curious thing happened several years ago at the Thriftway in West Seattle. Japanese businessmen began stopping by for tours, 20 to 30 to a bus, always bearing gifts.
"It is quite a thing to see," says assistant store manager Steve Kamphaus.
What lured them there apart from the Brie en brioche? The small, upscale grocer had begun offering customers the option to pay by fingerprint.
Biometrics — the concept of measuring the movement or dynamics of the body to authenticate someone — receives its most sexy treatment in Hollywood movies. Scientists receive access to super-secret labs by having their retina or hand scanned (see: Angels, Charlie).
Seattle Times
Date: 2007-01-18 |
Sentex bids for assets of bankrupt BenQ Mobile
Sentex Sensing Technology Inc has made a 52 million euro (US$67.4 million) bid to acquire the assets of BenQ Mobile GmbH, the bankrupt German handset business of BenQ Corp (明基).
Sentex's chief executive, Henrik Rubenstein, told Dow Jones Newswires that the bid is based on what he called an earn-out model, meaning that payments would only be made based on the financial success of the company in the future.
He said the biometric-technology company had secured "a three-digit million euro sum" of working capital financing, with the bulk of it to come from the issuance of convertible bonds.
Rubinstein said Sentex wanted to make high-end cellphones with Internet protocol and biometric technology, such as fingerprint, facial and voice recognition systems -- used to replace traditional phone security such as pin codes and which can also be used for payment systems.
Taipeh Times
Date: 2007-01-18 |
Nigerian democracy goes biometric
The Nigerian general election scheduled for April is on track to use biometric technology for voter verification following the award of a contract to BIO-key International and Labcal Technologies.
The two companies have been awarded the first stage of a multi-phase project to deliver mobile biometric enrolment and verification software to the Nigerian Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). During this part of the project, 58 million eligible voters will be enrolled in the system, in what the companies claim is the world’s largest single deployment of mobile digital biometric enrolment.
Security Document World
Date: 2007-01-19 |
Biometrics Provide Retailers Tool For Customized Marketing
A pair of supermarket executives discussed how biometrics can help personalized marketing at the National Retail Federation's annual convention, according to Forbes.com. A retailer customer logs online, browses special offers created specifically for them based on past purchases, creates a shopping list, and then goes to the supermarket where he or she can print out the list. Once the consumer is finished shopping, they can pay via a machine that reads their fingerprint and accesses their stored information, eliminating the need for a credit card or cash.
AMonline.com
Date: 2007-01-19 |
NZ Meeting to Adopt Korean Technology for Biometric Testing
Wellington, Jan 18 NZPA - New technology developed as a basic test to make sure that ``biometric'' products developed for international airports are compatible with existing systems will be officially announced in Wellington next week.
Biometric test technology developed by Korea's Information Security Agency (KISA) will be announced at a five-day international working group which will begin meeting on January 22, the agency said in a statement on a Korean website.
It will also be published as an International Standard Organisation benchmark in Switzerland -- the 11th international standard in ISO SC37 (biometrics). Most of the other standards have been for more basic technology involving data specifications.
The Leisure Customer’s Adoption of Biometric Technologies in Hotels
Recent research on a sample of over 300 hotel leisure guests, conducted at Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne (EHL), investigated the possibilities of introducing biometric technologies into the hotel experience. The model below demonstrates the overall critical factors for the successful adoption of biometrics in hotels.
These include the specific use of the biometric device, the leisure setting, type of device, personal perception of technology and perceived benefits. This research reveals that the most critical factor from the customer point of view is the type of biometric device and the process for which it is utilized.
Hospitality.net
Date: 2007-01-19 |
iCache: The First Biometric Digital Wallet
How long have we been hearing about the digital wallet?
I know Bill gates was a mere millionaire back when I heard him spinning yarns, and yet here today is the iCache. Billed as the first biomertic digital wallet, this handy little device holds your credit card data, frequent flier numbers, and virtually anything with an magnetic strip on it for safe keeping. Your finger unlocks the card.
We Say: If you can brave the beyond-annoyong flash-based website, you’ll see a pretty cool idea coming to life at last. No word on pricing and the product is still in testing, but we’re intrigued. Too bad it looks like an iPod…you know some test user will demand music and photo capbility and we’ll all be waiting another three years for this.
RealTechNews
Date: 2007-01-18 |
Deutsch
Studie: Riskanter Umgang mit vertraulichen Daten auf mobilen Endgeräten
Mobile Endgeräte stellen für die informationssicherheit in Unternehmen eine große Gefahr dar. Dies geht aus einer aktuellen Studie über das Nutzungsverhalten europäischer Unternehmen mit Smartphones und PDAs im Auftrag von Toshiba hervor. Vor allem sensible Kunden- und Personendaten seien durch die zunehmende Verbreitung mobiler Endgeräte gefährdet. Die vom Marktforschungsinstitut Dynamic Markets durchgeführte Studie zeigt, dass mehr als 90 Prozent der Befragten vertrauliche Geschäftsinformationen und Dokumente auf ihren Geräten speichern, zugleich gab jedes fünfte Unternehmen an, bereits einmal eines dieser Geräte verloren zu haben.
Tecchannel
Date: 2007-01-19 |
Geld abheben mittels Fingerabdruck
Chennai (pte/19.01.2007/13:50) - Geld abheben mittels Fingerprint-Check wird in Indien bald Realität. Die indische Regierung hat beschlossen, 15 biometrische Bankomaten in fünf Landesteilen aufzustellen. Statt der herkömmlichen Bedienung mit Plastikkarte und PIN-Code sollen Kunden allein über die Abgabe ihres Fingerabdrucks Geld abheben können. Mit dem Versuch, über den rund 100.000 Menschen in vornehmlich ländlichen Gegenden erreicht werden sollen, will man auch jener Bevölkerungsgruppe Zutritt zum modernen Finanzwesen verschaffen, die des Schreibens und Lesens nicht mächtig ist. Ein früherer Versuch, ländliche Gebiete mit herkömmlichen Bankomaten zu versorgen, war an der Kompliziertheit der Bedienung gescheitert, berichtet Wired News.
Pressetext
Date: 2007-01-19 |
Nederlands
Ieder mens heeft een unieke geurafdruk
(Belga) Eerst was er de vingerafdruk die criminelen achter de tralies kon brengen. En nu is er de "geurafdruk", zo schrijft de Sunday Telegraph. Wetenschappers in drie landen hebben gezamenlijk een methode omwikkeld om een mens te identificeren op basis van de specifieke geur die hij achterlaat. Want ook die blijkt bij geen twee mensen dezelfde te zijn.
Vorsers aan de universiteiten van Bristol, Wenen en het Amerikaanse Indiana hebben ontdekt hoe je de geur die eigen is aan ieder mens kunt isoleren en opsporen. Zij hopen dat hun ontdekking kan worden gebruikt bij forensisch onderzoek, net als DNA en vingerafdrukken. Ook zou die specifieke lichaamsgeur kunnen worden gebruikt bij de invoering van de superveilige, isometrische paspoorten die in het licht van de terreurdreiging her en der worden ontwikkeld.
MetroTime
Date: 2007-01-21 |
Biometrische proef bij Feyenoord
ROTTERDAM - Feyenoord start volgende week zondag bij de thuiswedstrijd tegen RKC Waalwijk met een proef voor biometrische toegangscontrole. Aan het experiment wordt in eerste aanleg deelgenomen door ongeveer 250 supporters die zich hiervoor vrijwillig bij de club hebben aangemeld.
UitlegNiet alleen Feyenoord, maar ook Ajax en Vitesse werken mee aan dit proefproject. Deelname aan deze pilot vormde een alternatief voor de invoering van de persoonsgebonden seizoenkaart, met pasfotoregistratie, die de overheid aan het begin van dit seizoen aan alle eredivisieclubs wilde opleggen.
De Volkskrant
Date: 2007-01-20 |
Politie 27 lidstaten gaat samenwerken
DRESDEN - De politie in alle 27 lidstaten van de Europese Unie krijgt op termijn toegang tot elkaars kentekenregisters, dna-databanken en bestanden met vingerafdrukken.
Dat is de uitkomst van een informele bijeenkomst van de ministers van Justitie, gisteren in Dresden.
De Nederlandse minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin sprak gisteren over 'een belangrijke stap vooruit in de bestrijding van grensoverschrijdende criminaliteit'.
Het Parool
Date: 2007-01-16 |
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