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| June 02, 2006
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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
Rogers rebuts 'filth' in ID-card story, editorial
The Courier-Journal recently ran a grossly incorrect article and editorial regarding my activity in support of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Transportation Worker Identity Card (TWIC). The Courier accused me of compromising national security in an effort to bring jobs to Kentucky. It is just not so, and I am outraged at such an allegation. For The Courier to print such filth without even seeking my side of the story is to ignore the most basic principles of responsible journalism. I am one of the strongest advocates of the TWIC card, which is critical for protecting access to America's seaports, airports and other transportation facilities. I have pushed the federal government to get this vital anti-terrorism tool in place for nearly five years.
Courier-Journal
Date: 2006-05-26 |
Latest E-Passport Test Shows Promise
Initial results from an interoperability test of electronic passports that wrapped up today in Berlin show vendors continue to make progress in their e-passports and readers, according to one attendee. The Berlin test is the seventh held since 2004 to determine how well passports with contactless smart card chips work with readers.
While most of the results were unavailable today, Card Technology has learned the average read time for all 55 e-passports test was 6.0 seconds, according to figures released by Uwe Seidel, with the German Federal Criminal Police Office. Six seconds was the same average for the 54 e-passports with basic access control, which required swiping the machine-readable zone to activate the chip. The sole e-passport without that control was only slightly quicker, at 5.7 seconds.
CardTechnology
Date: 2006-06-01 |
ID theft worry adds up to opportunity for banks
Banks can enhance their reputation for security by acting as custodians for personal identity credentials designed to make identity theft difficult.
This idea was advanced by Graham Alston, a partner in Unisys Corp.'s global financial services division, when he addressed conference of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia, held in Wellington in last week.
Last year, Unisys conducted a worldwide survey on identity fraud. This was then followed up with a survey designed to elicit the public's perception of how identity issues were being managed.
TechWorld
Date: 2006-06-01 |
Proposed Temporary Worker National ID Program Raises Concerns
(AXcess News) Washington - President Bush has endorsed a national identification process for temporary workers that uses biometric technology.
The plan is part of the immigration reform bill now in a congressional conference committee. A national identification program has been contentious for some time.
The Senate bill calls for a tamper-proof system that verifies identification and electronically verifies employment eligibility. The House bill requires only that Social Security numbers be checked against a federal database.
Biometric technology involves taking precise digital measurements of the body – such as handprints, fingerprints or eye scans – and storing them in a database or a smart card, said Matt Shannon, director of physical access for Saflink Corp., which manufactures biometric ID systems.
AXcessNews.com
Date: 2006-06-01 |
Targa Selects AuthenTec Fingerprint Sensor for New Consumer Biometric Notebook PC; AuthenTec Adding Advanced Security and Convenience to Targa Traveller 836W MT34
MELBOURNE, Fla. & MUNICH, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 31, 2006--Targa has selected fingerprint sensors from AuthenTec to add advanced security, convenience and other touch-controlled features to its new Targa Traveller 836W MT34 Notebook PC, which is designed specifically for the consumer market.
Targa is embedding the EntrePad 2501A from AuthenTec -- the world leader in fingerprint sensor security, innovation and sales -- in the new feature-packed notebook PC, which is available through LIDL retails chains in Germany beginning end of May.
"Our users appreciate the security, convenience and other benefits that AuthenTec's Power of Touch provides," said Andreas Brinkmann, director of Purchase & Product Management for Targa. "We're pleased to select AuthenTec for our first consumer notebook computer with biometric fingerprint functionality."
BusinessWire
Date: 2006-06-01 |
Symantec ponders Internet ID management service
Symantec is considering developing a service that would position the company as a third-party broker of identity management services for the Internet.
Speaking at the Enterprise Ventures 2006 conference on Thursday morning, Mark Bregman, senior vice president and chief evangelist at Symantec, noted a growing hesitance on the part of some consumers and businesses to conduct business on the Internet. A new wave is emerging in which consumers rather than enterprises are driving the Web, but this could be jeopardized by fears about security, Bregman said.
InfoWorld
Date: 2006-06-01 |
Childcare smartcard 'not Big Brother'
ISSUING children in childcare with a swipe card does not smack of Big Brother, Prime Minister John Howard said.
Mr Howard said we already have cards to cover a lot of things.
The Federal Government plans to issue every parent in Australia using childcare with either a swipe card or a PIN number to check their children in and out of centres in an effort to crack down on dishonest operators.
The system will provide the Department of Family and Community Services with information on what types of care parents are using, for how many hours a week, and where the shortages are.
Mr Howard said he did not think the plan could be seen as Big Brother.
The Daily Telegraph
Date: 2006-06-02 |
Deloitte study shows companies hiring chief security officers and enhancing security programs to protect brand and comply with regulatory requirements
NEW YORK, June 1 – Major global life sciences organizations plan to enhance their security programs, hiring chief security officers and investing in technological advancements to protect their products, customers, and brand, according to a new survey conducted by the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (DTT) Security & Privacy Services industry group, made up of Deloitte member firm Security & Privacy Services practices. The study, one of the first to focus on security and privacy issues in the life sciences and health care industry, canvassed more than 90 percent of the major pharmaceuticals, as well as the leading biotechnology and medical device companies globally.
Digital ID World To Highlight More Than 40 Real-World Deployments; Enterprise IT professionals emphasize keys to success in identity initiatives
Digital ID World, the industry's digital identity conference, announced that more than 40 case studies focusing on the real-world examples of identity deployments in financial services, manufacturing, distribution, transportation, communications and government will be presented at the annual conference. It was also announced that all of the Platinum Sponsorships for the event have been sold out. The Platinum Sponsors are: Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Oracle and HP. Digital ID World is scheduled to take place September 11-13, 2006 at the Santa Clara Marriott, Santa Clara, CA and will feature the latest technologies being used to authenticate, manage, control, integrate, store and analyze identity-associated information.
Co-op customers give Pay By Touch system the thumbs up
A survey by the UK's Co-operative Supermarket has found that the majority of shoppers feel that Pay By Touch's fingerprint authentication technology - which is currently being trialled by the retailer - is more secure and convenient than the chip and PIN system.
The Midcounties Co-operative supermarket in Oxford launched a trial of the Pay By Touch system in March this year.
The technology is being used as an alternative to card and cash payments at the checkout. The system scans customer fingerprints at the point-of-sale and links the image with an electronic wallet which holds financial and loyalty programme data, eliminating the need to carry cards, cash or a cheque book.
Police offered robot eye
A firm that produces surveillance software used by numerous British police forces is looking for one of them to test its latest wheez, a programme that automatically scans CCTV footage for suspicious behaviour and matches it with other intelligence such as mugshots.
The new software, by Nice Systems, can alert police when it detects loitering, crowd gathering, people running when they should be walking, tail-gating, parking in the wrong place, unauthorised entry, or any sort of behaviour the police want to track. John Chetwynd, technical consultant for public safety at Nice Systems, said: "We are looking for British police to do a beta trial."
The Register
Date: 2006-06-01 |
RFID as Big Brother? Please.
A prominent Washington IT trade group is taking exception to a new government draft report raising privacy concerns over the use of RFID for human tracking. The Department of Homeland Security's Emerging Applications and Technology Subcommittee said in a 15-page report that the use of RFID in identification cards or tokens could lead to illegal tracking of Americans. "Without formidable safeguards, the use of RFID in identification cards and tokens will tend to enable the tracking of individuals' movements, profiling of their activities and subsequent, non-security-related use of identification and derived information," the DHS draft report states. But the American Electronics Association (AeA) isn't buying it, saying the report contains "sweeping, unsubstantiated and incorrect generalizations."
InternetNews.Com
Date: 2006-05-31 |
While Challenging, Government Projects Still Set to Account for Significant Growth in the South African Smart Card Market
LONDON, June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The South African smart card market is poised to experience a significant growth spurt over the next six years with the introduction of smart cards by the banking and government sectors. Although both processes have been somewhat delayed, they are currently proceeding according to schedule and 2006 is likely to see some noteworthy movement in this regard.The Europay- MasterCard-Visa (EMV) migration is entering its final phase and should be completed this year, with banks having announced their intention to roll out smart cards to clients in the third quarter of 2006. "It is expected that a wide distribution of smart cards amongst banking clients will result in higher smart card adoption," says Frost & Sullivan (http://www.smartcards.frost.com/) Research Analyst Lindsey McDonald. "It will also result in the introduction of new value-added services utilising smart cards."
Fingerprint scanners keep tabs on reading habits at a primary school
Yorkshire Post Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Lizzie Murphy PUPILS at a West Yorkshire primary school can now be monitored for their choice of reading material after the launch of a new hi-tech library that scans children's thumb prints to identify them.
The GBP15,000 Fairbrother Library, at Clayton CE Primary School, Bradford, identifies pupils after they give a photographic image of their left and right thumbs, which are scanned when they take out books.
The 100 Best Products of the Year
Powerful computers, handy services, tiny utilities, mammoth HDTVs--our editors' top picks include all these and a whole lot more. Plus: the worst products of all time.
EU launches network security campaign
Europe remains woefully unaware of the security risks to computer networks, the European Commission said Wednesday as it unveiled a new awareness campaign called IT Security for Europe.
Companies, individuals and public authorities spend too little on securing their computers and networks, the Commission said in a statement. About 5 percent to 13 percent of IT expenditure is spent on security, "which is alarmingly low," the Commission said.
"The nature of the threat is changing and so must our response," Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding said in the statement.
InfoWorld
Date: 2006-05-31 |
CIO 2.0: The Next Dimension
The identity of the world's first chief information officer has likely been lost to history. But you can bet that as soon as the position was filled, the newly minted CIO grasped the significance of "... and other duties as assigned."
The companies that appointed those first CIOs in the late 1970s couldn't have envisioned the demanding, multiple responsibilities into which the position has evolved. Mostly technicians, the first CIOs approached their jobs from a technical perspective: Optimize the acquisition, integration, and application of information technology.
But as the role continues to gain prominence and value in the enterprise, the multiple dimensions of the job—in increasingly complex business and technology environments—are truly becoming daunting. In case anyone doubts this, here are just a few of the many dimensions required for the successful CIO.
Optimize Magazine
Date: 2006-05-31 |
Over half of workers would steal sensitive data
British businesses are facing a serious security threat from their own staff, with over a fifth of working adults admitting they have illegally accessed sensitive internal data, such as staff salary information, on corporate systems.
In addition, over half say they would access such information if given the chance to do so.
When asked what type of information would tempt them the most, HR and payroll information was the most popular target for respondents, at 36%.
This was followed by their manager’s personal notes (28%) and their colleagues’ personal notes (25%). If presented with the opportunity, 6% said they would steal a colleague’s password.
ComputerWeekly
Date: 2006-05-31 |
Commissioner says biometrics needed in EU border countries
During a speech to a ministerial conference on internal security earlier this month, EU Commissioner for Justice, Franco Frattini has spoken of the need for countries who share boarders with the EU to introduce biometric identifiers in their national identity and foreign travel documents.
Speaking during the conference attended by Ministers from the EU, candidate and neighbouring countries, the Commissioner said that it was essential to foster people-to-people contacts through the enhancement of security of travel documents and that border control should be efficient and notably more fluid for bona fide travellers. He said that this can be greatly facilitated by modern travel documents which establish a reliable link between the travel document and its holder, using biometric identifiers.
Deutsch
Elektronische Reisepässe erfolgreich getestet
Experten aus 38 Nationen haben vom 30. Mai bis 01. Juni 2006 in Berlin mit einem Interoperabilitätstest die wechselseitige Funktionsfähigkeit von elektronischen Reisepässen und Lesegeräten getestet. Der Obmann des DIN-Spiegelausschusses des internationalen Normungsgremiums für "Karten und persönliche Identifikation", Michael Hegenbarth, hat die Veranstaltung unter der Schirmherrschaft der Europäischen Kommission, des Französischen Innenministeriums und des Bundesministeriums des Innern organisiert. An zwei Testtagen wurden mehr als 400 elektronische Reisepässe unterschiedlicher Länder in Kombination mit 50 Lesegeräten verschiedener Hersteller geprüft. Ein abschließender Ausstellungs- und Konferenztag diente dem internationalen Austausch über den Einsatz von Biometrie in Dokumenten.
Nederlands
Amsterdam stemt in met gezichtsherkenning
AMSTERDAM - De Amsterdamse gemeenteraad heeft er donderdag mee ingestemd een proef te beginnen met gezichtsherkenning in winkels. Met de zes maanden durende proef gaat de gemeente kijken of met een dergelijk systeem winkeldieven geweerd kunnen worden. Eerder voerden twee winkels in Utrecht het systeem al in.
Alleen de SP en coalitiepartner GroenLinks stemden tegen. „Winkeliers moet je niet inschakelen voor politietaken”, aldus fractieleider Judith Sargentini van GroenLinks. Ook „de inbreuk op de privacy” is de linkse partijen een doorn in het oog.
Gezichtsherkenning en preventief fouilleren zijn de twee onderwerpen waar PvdA en GroenLinks in het nieuwe Amsterdamse college geen overeenstemming over konden bereiken in het programma-akkoord.
Telegraaf
Date: 2006-06-01 |
'Biometrisch paspoort eind augustus in EU'
AMSTERDAM - Lidstaten van de Europese Unie moeten vanaf eind augustus biometrische paspoorten uitgeven.
Dat heeft een woordvoerder van eurocommissaris voor justitie en interne aangelegenheden Franco Frattini donderdag gezegd. De biometrische paspoorten moeten een chip bevatten met daarop informatie over de gelaatstrekken van de drager. Uiterlijk 2009 moet daaraan informatie over vingerafdrukken worden toegevoegd.
Volgens de woordvoerder gaat de informatie op de chips verder dan de veiligheidseisen die de Verenigde Staten hebben gesteld. EU-landen die willen dat hun inwoners zonder visum naar de VS kunnen blijven reizen, hebben tot oktober gekregen om een digitale foto of een chip met biometrische gegevens aan de paspoorten toe te voegen.
Telegraaf
Date: 2006-06-01 |
Europese campagne rond netwerkbeveiliging
Europese bedrijven, overheidsinstanties en individuele consumenten onderschatten de gevaren die dreigen op (inter)netwerken. De Europese Commissie start daarom een bewustwordingscampagne onder de naam IT Security Strategy for Europe.
De Commissie noemt het "alarmerend" dat in huidige IT-budgetten gemiddeld slechts 5 tot 13 procent is gereserveerd voor de beveiliging. De nu aangekondigde campagne moet IT-bedrijven, afnemers en gebruikers informeren over de risico's en wat er tegen gevaren te doen is.
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