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| February 13, 2008
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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
EU plans to require biometrics of all non-European visitors
BRUSSELS: All non-Europeans would need to submit biometric data before crossing Europe's frontiers under sweeping European Union proposals to combat illegal migration, terrorism and organized crime that are to be outlined this week.
The plans - arguably the biggest shake-up of border management in Europe since the creation of an internal travel zone - would apply to citizens of the United States and all other countries that now enjoy visa-free status.
They would, however, allow EU citizens and "low risk" frequent travelers from outside the bloc to pass through automated, fast-track frontier checkpoints without coming into contact with border guards. Voluntary programs for prescreening such visitors, who would register fingerprints and other data, would be stepped up.
Herald Tribune
Date: 2008-02-11 |
White Castle satisfies its craving for user authentication
For more than 80 years, White Castle restaurants have created cravings for their signature hamburgers called Slyders. I remember the little white brick building in my home town. Alas, now that I live in Texas, I have to get my Slyders from the frozen food aisle – but they still satisfy that craving!
You might think that a company founded in 1921 would be slow on the uptake of cutting edge information technology. Not so for White Castle. This company has found a recipe for saving millions of dollars a year on processing paperwork for its 12,000 employees, and one of the ingredients is biometrics.
NetworkWorld
Date: 2008-02-11 |
Lockheed Beats Out Northrop Grumman, IBM in Bid to Build Biometrics Database
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The FBI on Tuesday selected Lockheed Martin for a contract worth up to $1 billion to build a database for fingerprints and other biometric information.
Lockheed Martin Corp., which built and maintains the FBI's current 10-fingerprint database, was the expected winner among analysts. Making good on its incumbent status, the nation's largest defense contractor will keep its hands on the Next Generation Identification system contract.
Lockheed Martin's Transportation and Security Solutions branch won the one-year deal valued at about $40 million, but if all nine one-year options are exercised, the contract's value will approach $1 billion. Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin beat out teams led by Northrop Grumman Corp. and International Business Machines Corp.
How believable are government claims on ID cards?
British people are maintaining steady levels of disbelief over goverment claims about ID cards, according to official Home Office research.
Lobby group No2ID picked up on the research this week, but a spokesman for the IPS said it had been published on ips.gov.uk in November. Google has a cache from earlier this month.
The survey asked people how important proposed benefits of the ID card would be - 74 per cent chose "disrupting the activities of terrorists and organised criminals", but 23 per cent of people thought this was "slightly believable" and 11 per cent thought it was "not at all believable". Seven per cent of respondents did not recognise any of the eight benefits they were offered to choose between.
Researchers from Taylor Nelson Sofres summarised views as: "Across the board, full buy-in and belief in the schemes [sic] ability to deliver the proposed benefits is weak."...
The Register
Date: 2008-02-13 |
Fujitsu Adds Mobile Phone With Fingerprint Sensor
Mobile phone makers and their partners are showcasing some of the most innovative mobile devices at this week's Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona. One of them is the FOMA F905i, a new Fujitsu mobile phone with integrated fingerprint sensor security for safeguarding personal information and mobile commerce transactions.
The FOMA F905i comes with a fingerprint sensor provided by AuthenTec. It resides outside the mobile phone on the back panel, enabling users to authenticate themselves with a finger swipe. The sensor uses AuthenTec's TruePrint technology, which reads below the surface of the skin to the live layer where the "true" fingerprint is located, according to AuthenTec.
The main purpose of the sensor is to protect personal and corporate information on mobile devices if they are lost or stolen and to secure transactions related to mobile commerce and online banking, where users can log in to mobile banking sites without Personal Identification Numbers or passwords.
InformationWeek
Date: 2008-02-12 |
Canon patent details biometric watermarking
An article on the Photography Bay website today reports on a very interesting new patent application recently filed by Japan's Canon Inc.
The application, entitled "Picture taking apparatus and method of controlling same", covers a new methodology for digitally watermarking images with the photographer's biometric data. In brief, the camera contains an iris sensor and infrared LEDs in the viewfinder mechanism, which allow biometric data on the photographer to be captured.
Before taking a series of photos, the photographer simply sets the camera to a "registration" mode and presses the shutter button while looking at the center AF mark through the viewfinder. The iris is scanned, and the resulting data stored in one of several in-camera profiles allowing for multiple photographers to share one camera body.
Imaging Resource
Date: 2008-02-12 |
Biometrics registry proposed
An interagency technology council has released a draft of a registry of biometric standards that could improve sharing of data between agencies.
The Registry of USG Recommended Biometric Standards was developed by the Subcommittee on Biometrics and Identity Management of the White House National Science and Technology Council. It has been released through the National Institute of Standards and Technology for public comment; comments should be e-mailed to standards@biometrics.gov by March 10. Comments will be reviewed by the NSTC Technology Committee. The registry supplements an earlier document, the NSTC Policy for Enabling the Development, Adoption and Use of Biometric Standards. The policy is an attempt to establish agreement on interagency standards so that biometric systems will be interoperable.
Government Computer News
Date: 2008-02-11 |
Match-on-SIM awarded price
Precise Biometrics’ fingerprint technology ended up at second place in the world wide contest SIMagine due to its high business potential as the winners were announced on Tuesday evening at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Precise Biometrics was the runner up in SIMagine with their Match-on-SIM, a SIM card containing fingerprint recognition functionality. SIMagine is a contest where innovative organizations and universities compete about developing tomorrow’s applications using SIM cards based on Java Card technology. The winner was the Chinese company Siodata Technologies with a wireless marketing and CMR solution leveraging the use of digital coupons in mobile phones and generates more accurate advertising analysis.
Business potential
According to the jury both Precise Biometrics and Siodata were awarded due to the high business potential of their products. The jury consists of key companies from the telecommunication and SIM card industry such as Gemalto, Samsung Electronics and SunMicrosystems.
Precise Biometrics
Date: 2008-02-13 |
ISO Promotes Biometric Standard for Financial Firms
With the aim of boosting security in the financial services industry, ISO, the world's largest developer of international standards, has issued a new biometric standard for financial firms.
Biometrics include technologies such as voice identification —authenticating the identity of a person based on their voice —as well as fingerprinting, iris scanning and facial recognition.
ISO said the proliferation of electronic transactions —and the security risk inherent in these transactions -- led the organization to promote biometrics in the financial industry and suggest it become an integral part of a company's overall information security management program.....
Wall Street & Technology
Date: 2008-02-12 |
Using War to Promote Biometrics
Reading from this site, you could come to the swift conclusion that biometrics was one of those “good things” that Martha Stewart refers to constantly. The rolling comments consist of positive reinforcement of the idea that biometrics is just a helpful tool and will be used for nothing else.
According to this promo, biometrics is useful in preventing “unauthorized” personnel from gaining access to, or entering installations, buildings or networks. Of course there is no definition of who will be “authorized” or by whom, or just exactly which buildings or networks could need this kind of special authorization.
OpEdNews.com
Date: 2008-02-12 |
Deutsch
EU will Fingerabdrücke aller Einreisenden
Die "Festung Europa" wird Wirklichkeit. Die EU-Kommission hat verschärfte Kontrollen beschlossen und will die Fingerabdrücke aller Personen erfassen, die in die Union einreisen. Auch andere biometrische Daten von Reisenden sollen gesammelt werden. Wenn auch nur freiwillig.
Jetzt wird die Abschottung Europas Realität. Die EU-Kommission will die Außengrenzen der Europäischen Union noch strenger abschotten. Die Brüsseler Behörde beschloss einen Plan, der rundum verschärfte Kontrollen vorsieht. Dazu gehört, dass Einreisende anhand ihrer Fingerabdrücke identifiziert werden sollen. Das könnte verschiedenen Optionen des Kommissionsplans zufolge auch für EU-Bürger gelten.
Welt Online
Date: 2008-02-13 |
EU sammelt Fingerabdrücke
Die Fingerabdrücke aller Einreisenden in die Europäische Union sollen künftig gespeichert werden. Das sieht ein Plan für schärfere Grenzkontrollen vor, den EU-Justizkommissar Franco Frattini am Mittwoch in Brüssel vorlegen will. Wenn die EU-Staaten und das Europa-Parlament dem Vorschlag zustimmen, würden millionenschwere Investitionen in neue Apparate fällig. Frattini will mit der Datensammlung vor allem Terroristen und illegale Einwanderer aufspüren. Im Zentrum seines Plans steht ein Register sämtlicher Ein- und Ausreisen. Wer länger in der EU bleibt, als sein Visum erlaubt, würde so automatisch auffallen. "Diese Leute sind der Hauptfaktor der illegalen Einwanderung", hatte Frattini bereits beim informellen Treffen der EU-Innenminister im slowenischen Brdo vor zweieinhalb Wochen gesagt.
Francais
Société générale : 50 millions d’euros pour éviter d’autres Kerviel
Fraudes. A l’occasion de la publication de son augmentation de capital de 5,5 milliards d’euros (lire ci-dessous), et pour la première fois depuis qu’a éclaté l’affaire Kerviel, elle a communiqué sur les «mesures prises et à prendre pour renforcer ses processus de contrôle», dixit Jean-Pierre Mustier, le patron de la banque de financement de d’investissement. Selon Mustier, une équipe composée d’une centaine de salariés formés à détecter les fraudes, travaillera sur tous les secteurs concernés : le front-office, le back et le middle-office, les risques et le département compliance (déontologie). Ils seront aidés de spécialistes externes, notamment du cabinet PricewaterhouseCoopers. Une fonction dédiée testera les systèmes de contrôle. Le coût prévu pour ces mesures sera de 50 millions d’euros pour 2008. Mais dès aujourd’hui, plusieurs actions de court terme ont été prises. Notamment, un «renforcement du process de sécurité informatique» : les mots de passe des salariés ont été changés et le seront tous les mois, les accès à un certaines applications limités, et la mise en place d’un «système biométrique» pour les applications plus sensibles.
Liberation
Date: 2008-02-12 |
Nederlands
Menno Stijl: “Irisscan op Schiphol geeft alleen maar een levensgevaarlijke schijnzekerheid!”
Er is de laatste dagen nog al wat ophef ontstaan over de undercoveroperatie van SBS6 waar een journalist zich voordeed als medewerker en ongezien een nepbom in een vliegtuig wist te krijgen. Operationeel directeur Ad van Rutten van Schiphol vertelde bij Pauw & Witteman dat de problemen voor de zomer zijn opgelost met het plaatsen van extra irisscanners. Schiphol directeur Gerlach Cerfontaine noemde het incident een doodzonde.
“Een absolute schijnveiligheid. Paniekvoetbal ten top,” reageert Menno Stijl, directeur van The Authentication Company boos. “Er is niets mis met irisscans of andere vormen van biometrie maar door dit ad hoc in te zetten, brengt het de veiligheid van de luchthaven juist omlaag. Levensgevaarlijk en ondoordacht!”
Persberichten.com
Date: 2008-02-11 |
Lockheed gaat voor FBI biometrische database bouwen
Lockheed Martin heeft de strijd om een order voor een nieuw biometrisch databasesysteem voor de FBI gewonnen. De bestelling van de Amerikaanse federale politiedienst heeft een waarde van ongeveer een miljard dollar.
Lockheed Martin was de verwachte winnaar van de openbare aanbesteding. Het concernversloeg in de strijd om de order onder andere Northrop Grumman en IBM, zo bericht AP. Het defensieconcern bouwde eerder al het Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, waarmee de FBI vingerafdrukken kan opslaan en vergelijken.
Frattini komt met 'vingerafdrukplan'
BRUSSEL - De Europese Commissie wil dat reizigers die van buitenaf de Europese Unie binnenkomen, biometrische gegevens - een vingerafdruk of een opname van de iris- afstaan.
Dat staat in een plan van Europees commissaris Franco Frattini van Justitie. Met de maatregel hoopt Frattini de buitengrenzen van de Europese Unie te versterken.
Doel van het voorstel is de kansen te verkleinen dat terroristen, zware criminelen en illegalen de EU binnenkomen. Ook moet de maatregel ertoe leiden dat reizigers die wel bonafide zijn op vliegvelden sneller door de douane kunnen.
Het is de bedoeling dat de afgestane vingerafdrukken zullen worden bewaard in een enorm gegevensbestand.
Nederlands Dagblad
Date: 2008-02-13 |
CU bezorgd over de RFID-chip en privacy
DEN HAAG - De fractie van de ChristenUnie in de Tweede Kamer vindt dat het kabinet meer oog moet hebben voor gevoeligheden rond de zogeheten RFID-chip. De partij wil van het kabinet horen dat het ,,nooit zo kan zijn'' dat mensen verplicht worden geïmplanteerd met een chip.
De RFID-chip (Radio Frequency Identification) is een minuscule chip die gebruik maakt van radiogolven en algemeen wordt gezien als de opvolger van de streepjescode. Alleen: doordat gebruik wordt gemaakt van draadloze techniek, kan er veel meer mee, bijvoorbeeld afrekenen bij de kassa zonder het winkelwagentje uit te laden. Ook de nieuwe OV-chipkaart is ermee uitgerust.
De steeds bredere toepassing van de chip zonder aanvullende voorwaarden kan echter de privacy schaden en stuiten op gewetensbezwaren, vindt de CU.
Nederlands Dagblad
Date: 2008-02-13 |
Kamer: twijfel over Schiphol
Woensdag 13 februari 2008 - SCHIPHOL - De Kamer debatteert op korte termijn met minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin (Justitie) over de beveiliging van luchthaven Schiphol. De oppositiepartijen SP, VVD en GroenLinks zijn nog niet gerustgesteld door de veiligheidsmaatregelen die de bewindsman gisteren aankondigde na een tv-reportage waarin een nepbom in een vliegtuig werd geplaatst.
Binnen enkele dagen worden volgens Hirsch Ballin alle medewerkers die de beveiligde zone van de luchthaven betreden fysiek gecontroleerd. Ook hun bagage moet door de 100-procentscontrole. Drie personeelsdoorgangen gaan per direct dicht. Eerder al werd bekend dat Schiphol de toegangspassen van personeel tijdelijk door twee beveiligers laat controleren, in afwachting van een irisscan.
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