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| September 25, 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
10-for-your-Bio
In today's episode of the “10 for your Bio” we welcome Myers Phil from Precise Biometrics.
We asked Myers the 10 questions. Click to read the interview and see what Myers has to say about biometrics and the biometric industry.
English
WCPS eyes biometric time cards
WALTON COUNTY — In an attempt to meet federal standards, as well as become more efficient, Walton County Public Schools are doing away with its old ways of tracking employees work hours and entering the 21st century.
“I think the responsibility of the superintendent and the board of education is to make the day-to-day operations as efficient as possible. This move will bring us up to the current standard of the industry and [Federal Labor and Standards Act] laws,” Superintendent Dr. Tim Lull said. “We want to make sure we get a full day’s work for a full day’s pay from every employee.”
In April 2005, the Walton County Board of Education approved during its mid-year adjustments funds for the school system to purchase equipment — to the tune of $150,000 — to keep track of time and attendance of teachers and faculty digitally.
The Walton Tribune
Date: 2006-09-24 |
Southern Charmed City of DeLand Adopts Cutting Edge Biometric Time and Attendance System
The Florida city of DeLand successfully deploys a biometric time and attendance system for all departments, including fire, police and public works. (FVNEWSWIRE Sep 8, 2006)
Sandy, UT (FV Newswire) - Florida city of DeLand boasts a rich cultural and educational heritage, including Stetson University, the state’s oldest private college, and a downtown area listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Although the city’s old-fashioned Southern charm endears it to residents and tourists alike, DeLand’s Director of Information Services, David Watson, wanted to ensure its time and attendance process was cutting-edge.
In 2004, Watson and his team determined the old paper-based process, including some worn out time clocks, needed updating, and looked to technology to address the issue.
After visiting a time and attendance symposium, Watson knew he had a challenge on his hands. As a city government, DeLand is beholden to taxpayers to run as efficiently and effectively as possible. And even though time and attendance software was an obvious tool to make this happen, Watson also realized that with only about 400 employees, the city would be competing with multinational organizations and their thousands of users when it came to customer service.
FinanceVisor
Date: 2006-09-23 |
e-boarding scheme cuts need to clear immigration
Dubai: Travelling between the UAE and the United Kingdom could soon become much easier if a trial scheme that lets people bypass immigration officers proves successful. Officials are going to test out a new e-boarding initiative that will allow passengers to walk through electronic turnstiles at Dubai International Airport and London Heathrow.
The person's biometric data such as the irises of their eyes will be checked to confirm their identity and right to pass. The International Air Transport Association programme is also being tested at Hong Kong International Airport. Passengers who are eligible to walk through the electronic checkpoints at the three airports will not have to show their passports to immigration officers. In total 3,000 people from the UAE, the UK and Hong Kong are due to be recruited for the trial, which is set to begin this autumn.
1,100 Missing Gov’t Laptops
I’m not sure if this is a case of “IT department losing stuff” or “someone ganking government laptops” but it looks like the Department of Commerce has lost 1,100 laptops since 2001, with 250 from the Census Bureau alone. These laptops contained sensitive information including names and Social Security numbers. While we all know what happened - Joe Blow took his government laptop home, got fired, and now his kid is pounding out homework on our dime - there is really no excuse for this. This breach is another example of how weak most IT inventory systems really are and, more specifically, how weak IT systems in government are in real life. RFID, biometrics, and other high-end security systems are probably the only answer as well as hardcore, on-disk encryption. Unfortunately, that rarely happens in the real world and this is what you get.
CruchGear
Date: 2006-09-22 |
Biometric Payment A Big Hit At Jewel Osco Supermarkets In Milwaukee, Wis
Jewel-Osco is the biggest user in the Milwaukee, Wis. area of the Pay By Touch system, which is the industry leader in the touch-system payment technology, according to The Portsmouth Herald in Portsmouth, N.H. It rolled out the system last spring, and the system is available in all 15 Jewel-Osco stores in Wisconsin.
In Jewel-Osco's four-state area, about 56,000 customers are signed up for it, said Juanita Kocanda, Jewel-Osco's manager of public affairs.
AmeOnline
Date: 2006-09-22 |
Scandinavian Airlines introduces Biometric Check-In
Scandinavian Airlines has become one of the world’s first airlines to introduce biometric security check-ins. It is now using biometric security at baggage check-in and boarding gates on domestic services across Sweden, following a successful trial period in northern Sweden. This is part of Scandinavian Airlines’ vision of “simple travel” to maintain an efficient self-service flow as security requirements are intensifying at the airports.
Passengers leave their fingerprints in Precise Biometrics’ fingerprint reader at the baggage check-in, where they are temporarily stored. At boarding, passengers will provide a new fingerprint, which is then matched against the temporarily stored print. This solution ensures that the person handing the baggage is the same person boarding the plane. The solution also guarantees privacy will be maintained, as temporarily stored fingerprints are deleted once they have been used.
e-Travel Blackboard
Date: 2006-09-22 |
Heavyweights Join Forces To Offer Smart Card Credentials
Two of the largest contractors to the U.S. government, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics, announced this week that they had joined forces to provide smart card credentials to U.S. government agencies and “first responders,” the police, fire, ambulance and other personnel that respond in emergencies. Lockheed Martin will provide the systems that store the identification information on each individual, while General Dynamics will handle enrollment and issuance, the companies say. The cost per credential will be under $100 per card, although the price will vary according to features and length of contract, says Jon Rambeau, director of credential solutions at Lockheed Martin. That price is less than the $110 per credential that the General Services Administration says will be charged to federal agencies that choose to use a card-issuing facility being established under a GSA contract awarded recently to BearingPoint. Lockheed Martin and two other unsuccessful vendors have protested that contract award.
Card Technology
Date: 2006-09-22 |
Gizmo lets gas purchasers pump, press, go
When customers are asked to pay for their purchases at Stop 'n Save stores on the Western Slope, an increasing number of them simply give the finger.
Index finger, that is.
Six of the 16 Stop 'n Save gas and convenience stores operated in Colorado by Feather Petroleum began using a biometric payment system this spring that links customers' fingerprints to their checking accounts. The system allows them to pay for their purchases without opening their wallets.
Feather Petroleum joins some 2,200 retailers in 44 states that use payment technology offered by San Francisco-based Pay By Touch.
Grocers including Piggly Wiggly in the southeast and several chains operated by Minneapolis-based SuperValu have adopted the payment technology, and 3 million people are registered for the service.
Denver Post
Date: 2006-09-22 |
Cross Match showcases Guardian product range
US-based Cross Match Technologies has unveiled enhanced versions of its recently launched ten-print live scan hardware and software system known as the Guardian at the Biometrics Consortium conference in Baltimore this week. According to the company, the Guardian R, the Guardian multi-modal Jumpkit and the Guardian FAST (Fast Autocapture of Slaps and Thumbs) have extra features and functionality to address the stringent requirements of the US military and are able to perform in harsh and remote environments.
Guardian R is a ruggedised version of Cross Match’s Guardian fingerprint capture device that is designed for military use and sealed in an ingress-protection IP66 metal casing so it can work in wet and dusty conditions. It also includes an integrated light filter for outdoor use.
Security Document World
Date: 2006-09-21 |
Analyst Sees Boom In Identity And Biometric Projects
The European Union is set to announce the winner of a major biometric project this fall and the next 12 months “will herald a great boom in U.S. biometric and identity projects," predicts analyst Jeremy Grant of Washington, D.C.-based Stanford Group. He predicts annual spending on U.S. identity projects will grow from $620 million in 2004 to a peak of nearly $1.7 billion in 2009, before falling to just under $1.6 billion in 2011, the last year of his forecast period.
Card Technology
Date: 2006-09-21 |
People prefer iPods to biometric passports
The Home Office has tried to frighten people into taking its identity plans seriously by publishing a marketing survey it said proved their passports were easy targets for ruthless criminals.
People care more about their iPods and mobile phones than their passports, according to an Identity and Passport Service (IPS) survey, making passports an easy target for criminals.
The IPS survey found that, "when put on the spot" by government-commissioned inquisitors, half of all young adults had no idea where their passport was. "Only half...could say where their passport was without having to think or look for it," an IPS statement said. Yet 72 per cent of young adults knew exactly where their iPods and mobile phones were. IPS director Bernard Herdan said: "While young people are rightly concerned about the whereabouts of their phones and iPods, it seems too many still underestimate the potential consequences of losing their passport."
The Register
Date: 2006-09-20 |
DHS cites need for biometric exchange standards
A Homeland Security Department official said national and international standards are needed for sharing biometric information. DHS and the Defense Department, for example, have a practical need to exchange biometric information on some people captured in Iraq. “The work here…is not just an academic exercise,” said Brad Wing, systems and standards coordinator for DHS and co-chairman of the National Science and Technology Council's Biometrics Subcommittee. Wing spoke Sept. 19 at the Biometric Consortium Conference in Baltimore. Biometric exchanges between DOD and the Justice Department rely on linkages between those agencies' fingerprint systems, Wing said. The State Department and DHS share data to perform background checks on visa applicants.
EURODAC: the European Union-wide biometric database
Part of the European Union's Common European Asylum System, EURODAC is an EU-wide fingerprint database for the comparison of the fingerprints of asylum seekers and illegal entrants, to help determine which Member State should examine an asylum application. The Commission published the third annual report on the activities of EURODAC today. The report gives essential information on patterns of asylum seeking and illegal entry in the EU and shows that 16% of all applications in 2005 were 'multiple applications' – asylum claims where the same person has already made an application in the same country or in another Member State.
In 2005, EURODAC processed 187.223 sets of fingerprints of asylum seekers, 25.162 sets of fingerprints of people crossing the borders irregularly and 46.299 sets of fingerprints of people apprehended while illegally staying on the territory of a Member State. The EURODAC Central Unit which manages the central system was operational for 99.9% of the reporting period, operating 24/24 hours and 7/7 days.
The Future of Physical Hard Drive Security
(Special Report) - Earlier this month, LaCie revealed another one of its SAFE desktop hard drives with biometric fingerprint reader (scan to get access), internal drive lock (lock the drive inside the case), secure password protection (only authorized users can lock or unlock the drive) and external chain lock (securely and physically lock the drive in place). To an average user, this much security is a little too much. Even though majority of us have critical financial and other personal information that we would like to prevent others from accessing, the internal and external chain locks are a bit too extreme. After all, what are the chances of someone breaking in and snatching away with the hard drive out of other potentially valuable items that the perpetrator could instead get a hold of? Not to mention, the person would have to be technically savvy to be able to get access to our confidential data, which some of us would password protect to begin with. Come to think of it, the chances are so minute, they are nonexistent.
CoolTechZone
Date: 2006-09-18 |
Deutsch
Biometrische Schlösser mit dem Kopiergerät knacken
Der CCC weist ja regelmäßig auf die neuen Unsicherheiten biometrischer Verfahren hin und ahmt dabei auch Fingerabdrücke mit einfachsten Hausmitteln nach. Fingerabdruckscanner per Kopiergerät zu überlisten: so leicht hat er es sich bislang noch nicht gemacht. Aber die Mythbusters, die leider den Hersteller des Sicherheitssystems nicht nennen.
Von dem sie jedoch offenbar nicht ausgingen, dass es sich so leicht knacken läßt. Mit einem Latex- und mit einem Gelabdruck überlisten die Schlossknacker das Biometriesystem, das auch die Wärme des aufgelegten Fingers misst.
Francais
Les TIC outil de croissance économique par excellence
Le Premier ministre, Driss Jettou, a présidé mercredi dernier à Skhirat la cérémonie de signature du contrat-progrès 2006-2012 pour le développement du secteur des Technologies de l'information et de la communication entre le gouvernement et l'APEBI (Fédération des technologies de l'information, des télécommunications et de l'offshoring).
Ce contrat, qui a été signé par Rachid Talbi Alami, ministre délégué chargé des Affaires économiques et générales et Bachir Rachdi, président de l'APEBI, traduit, selon le Premier ministre, l'engagement des deux parties à générer les conditions favorables à l'essor des TIC afin de permettre à l'économie nationale d'en tirer le meilleur parti en termes de croissance et de création des richesses.
Jetflash Biométrique, de transcend
En matière de contrôle de l’accès aux données, la clé USB JetFlash 210 de Transcend a un argument de taille par rapport à ses concurrentes : elle est équipée d’un lecteur d’empreintes digitales qui gère l’accès aux infos contenues dans la clé, et qui peut aussi verrouiller temporairement l’ordinateur sur lequel elle est installée. Pratique, la JetFlash 210 peut enregistrer les paramètres de connexion (utilisateurs, mots de passe)
à des sites marchands ou des messageries. Plus besoin de retenir ses codes pour ouvrir ses sites, il suffit d'utiliser la reconnaissance par empreinte digitale. Disponible en deux capacités : 1 gigaoctet et 2 gigaoctets. Prix : 49 euros.
recommandale Utilisation de la biométrie simple, mais la partie pour scanner les empreintes est étroite. Pour tous ceux qui veillent sur leurs données.
Toshiba croit toujours en la Tablet PC
Le marché n’a pas décollé malgré les promesses recelées par la technologie, mais Toshiba n’abandonne pas pour autant la Tablet PC. Le constructeur annonce ainsi le Portégé M400-170 doté de la technologie de communication 3G/3G+. Ce dernier est proposé d’ailleurs avec un forfait Orange Business Everywhere inside. Le Portégé M400-170 est ainsi doté de la technologie Intel Centrino Duo et du dernier processeur double cœur Intel Core 2 Duo. Il pèse 2,1 kg et profite de l’animation Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.
Son écran pivotant de 12 pouces est combiné à un emplacement modulaire, doté en standard d’un graveur DVD Super Multi, mais qui permet d’ajouter un deuxième disque dur, afin de prendre en charge le RAID de niveau 1. L’emplacement pour la station d’accueil permet d’installer une batterie haute capacité pour atteindre une autonomie allant jusqu’ à 7 heures. Egalement, le M400-170 possède un lecteur d’empreinte digitale, le système anti-voleur Toshiba qui bloque l’accès au système en cas de vol, un clavier anti-éclaboussures et des absorbeurs de chocs. Prix conseillé 2 200 euros ttc.
ITR Manager
Date: 2006-09-20 |
Le passeport électronique
Dans le cadre du cycle de conférence "Qu'en savez-vous vraiment ?" le musée des Arts et métiers vous donne rendez-vous le jeudi 28 septembre 2006 à 18H30, pour une conférence ayant pour thème : Le passeport électronique.
Photo et empreintes digitales numérisées, le passeport électronique est-il une nouvelle arme contre la fraude et la falsification ? Une puce RFID intégrée au passeport permet un transfert sans contact des informations biométriques du document aux bornes de contrôle. Mais peut-on lire ces informations à notre insu ? Quelle technologie derrière la numérisation des données biologiques ? L'inviolabilité du système est-elle une certitude ? Autant de questions à se poser sur le passeport biométrique.
Nederlands
Biometrie in het voetbalstadion
De KNVB overweegt de invoer van biometrische identificatie in voetbalstadions. Bij drie clubs start een test met vingerafdrukherkenning. ADO Den Haag gaat met het nieuwe stadion nog een stap verder.
Na de winterstop start bij Feyenoord, Ajax en Vitesse een pilot met vingerafdrukherkenning om supporters met een stadionverbod buiten de deur te houden. Volgens TNO scoort deze techniek onder uiteenlopende omstandigheden beter dan gezichts- en irisherkenning, de andere kandidaten voor biometrische stadionpoorten.
De KNVB wil de onschuldige supporters zo min mogelijk lastigvallen met de nieuwe maatregelen. Daarom legt de bond alleen van mensen met een stadionverbod de biometrische gegevens vast. ‘Dat zijn er in Nederland ongeveer duizend’, zegt Jurgen den Hartog van TNO Industrie en Techniek, die de KNVB adviseert. ‘Dan moet je dus een scan vergelijken met duizend beelden uit een database. Dat vergt een veel grotere nauwkeurigheid dan bij een één op één vergelijking.’
Technisch Weekblad
Date: 2006-09-25 |
Antwoorden op kamervragen over het nieuwe biometrisch paspoort
Antwoorden op kamervragen van de leden Smilde, Sterk en Aasted Madsen (allen CDA) over het nieuwe biometrisch paspoort
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1. Vraag
Hoe kan het dat pasfoto’s worden afgekeurd waarop de oren niet zichtbaar zijn, terwijl u in antwoord op eerdere vragen over de problemen bij de eisen die gesteld worden aan de pasfoto’s voor het nieuwe biometrisch paspoort 1) antwoordt: «mits het gezicht volledig zichtbaar is, is het niet nodig dat de oren zichtbaar zijn op de foto»?
1. Antwoord
Omdat de uitgevende instanties de foto’s beoordelen, is het in de praktijk niet uit te sluiten dat een of meerdere uitgevende instanties de regelgeving en de eisen die voor de foto’s gelden niet juist toepast.
2. Vraag
Zijn de uitzonderingsgronden voldoende objectiveerbaar gemotiveerd?
.......
Inchecken met gsm en vingerafdruk
In veel landen zijn passagiers nu al verplicht zich bij het instappen in het vliegtuig te legitimeren. De Business Services-tak van Siemens heeft een oplossing ontwikkeld waarmee dat legitimeren niet alleen sneller, maar ook makkelijker kan: een combinatie van vingerafdruk en inchecken per gsm.
Redactie CM/PCM, Computer Magazine, 20 September 2006
In veel landen zijn passagiers nu al verplicht zich bij het instappen in het vliegtuig te legitimeren. De Business Services-tak van Siemens heeft een oplossing ontwikkeld waarmee dat legitimeren niet alleen sneller, maar ook makkelijker kan: een combinatie van vingerafdruk en inchecken per gsm.
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