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| October 16, 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
Integrator to Deliver Biometric Badge for Airport Freight Drivers
Systems integration firm Unisys announced today that it has designed a biometric badge for airport freight drivers. The badge was specified as part of the Airport Access Control Pilot Program' (AACP) Wireless Personal Identification Credential (WPIC).
An essential goal of the project has been to create a credential that could identify those drivers bringing freight to airport warehouses.
The integrator announced that it was working with Fidelica Microsystems and Abeo Corporation to create a biometric badge that communicated via RFID for the WPIC project. The technology approaches biometric card identification a bit differently than many other vendors. Part of Fidelica's ability has been that the company could place a fingerprint sensor into the badge itself, using a flexible sensor. Because the project has to address outside contractors who aren't full-time airport employees, there were issues of how to ensure the badge holder retained his or her privacy.
SecurityInfoWatch
Date: 2006-10-13 |
What the heck is a biometric passport?
You may have heard the words, but if you haven’t, you will: biometric passports. As of this month, new passports issued in the U.K. will be biometric. The U.S. is testing the passports and will probably start issuing them to all new applicants within the next few months.
But what the heck IS one? It’s a passport with a computer chip embedded it in that includes all the info on that first passport page, including your picture. When you open it for the customs guy, he can scan it and scan you and see if the two are the same. If not, he starts to think you’re a bad guy. In the U.K., they’re making people show up in person to get their likenesses scanned in, but in the U.S. they’ll almost certainly work from a photo, according to Joel Shaw, who’s Chairman of the International Civil Aviation Organization’s committee on the biometric passport and also chief strategy officer of Crypto Metrics, which works on systems for biometric passport technology.
Statesman.com
Date: 2006-10-15 |
Treasury IT projects 'running 17 years late'
The Government's ability to deliver its flagship identity card scheme on time was called into question last night after it was revealed that IT projects ordered by the Treasury are running a total of more than 17 years late.
The severely delayed schemes include an automated number plate reader database which is 13 months late and a pension services scheme which is a year behind target.
A scheme for the government's actuary department due to be finished by August 2003 is still not up and running.
Opposition politicians called for government departments to be barred from ordering any new IT projects.
Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, who secured release of the figures said the entire ID card project was heading for chaos.
Telegraph
Date: 2006-10-13 |
IBG Biometric Performance Certification Program Certifies Vein and Iris Recognition Products
International Biometric Group (IBG) has certified three additional biometric products through its Biometric Performance Certification program. The products were evaluated in Round 6 of IBG's Comparative Biometric Testing.
The following products have been certified at Level 3 usability and Level 3 accuracy:
Fujitsu PalmSecure (vein recognition)
Hitachi UB READER (vein recognition)
IrisGuard H100 (iris recognition)
Biometric Performance Certification is the only program that certifies the performance of end-to-end biometric systems, including capture hardware and matching software.
To date, IBG's Biometric Performance Certification program has certified five biometric products for applications such as access control, border management, network security, and point of sale. Thousands of commercial and government organizations use IBG test results when making deployment and partnership decisions.
SecurityPark
Date: 2006-10-12 |
Biometric watchdogs catching illegals entering Singapore
Singapore - More than 1,000 foreigners banned from Singapore were caught when they tried to enter the country using false identities this year, thanks to the biometric database installed last June by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA). The database stores fingerprints, photographs and personal details of some 146,000 foreigners who had been repatriated for offences committed in Singapore, reported the Straits Times newspaper Thursday. Sneaking in to the city-state will become even more difficult by December when ICA officers have real-time access to the Interpol database of more than 12 million lost and stolen passports in 114 countries.
ID Cards: LSE responds on Government's cost report to Parliament
The London School of Economics and Political Science Identity Project has published a response to the Government’s first bi-annual section 37 report to Parliament about the likely costs of the ID Cards Scheme (published this Monday). In particular, the LSE acknowledgse the inclusion of set-up costs, for the first time, in the figures that are to be considered by Parliament.
However, the LSE says the report remains vague on many important areas of the scheme and raises important questions:...............................
PublicTechnology.Net
Date: 2006-10-12 |
Flexible bridge eases biometric HDD security
This article provides a simple, step by step design sequence to add fingerprint security to a USB mass storage device. Identification comes in different forms ranging from passwords to dongles to biometrics. These days, there is a password for everything. Remembering passwords usually involves storing them somewhere, which, in the security sense, is self defeating.
Dongles are expensive to manufacture and are prone to being misplaced. Biometric applications need no passwords, require small and relatively inexpensive hardware, and fingerprints are never lost. There are various methods used to keep data secure from an unauthorised user. These include encryption and drive manipulation, among others.
ElectronicsTalk
Date: 2006-10-12 |
Liska Biometry, Inc. Successfully Demonstrates Updated Biometric Identifier Number [BIN(TM)] Technology at ASIS 2006
DOVER, NH -- (MARKET WIRE) -- October 12, 2006 -- Liska Biometry (OTCBB: LSKA), a leading provider of biometric identification solutions, today announced that it successfully demonstrated an updated version of its Biometric Identifier Number [BIN™] technology at the recent ASIS 2006 conference in San Diego. In the demonstration, Liska successfully matched two live fingerprint scans against two BIN numbers stored in a small standard PD417 Barcode.
Charles Benz, Chairman and CEO of Liska, said, "This demonstration, in front of one of the largest security audiences in the world, proved that our BIN technology is the ideal solution for a standard FIPS201 credential or ICAO compliant passport. The BIN data packet is at least 5X-10X smaller than the size of traditional template data packets used in chip technology. That means that a standard PD417 Barcode can be used to store the biometrics instead of much more expensive chip-based solutions."
MarketWire
Date: 2006-10-11 |
C.I.T.I. Awarded Biometric Storage System Contract by DHS
ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) through a competition under the GSA 8(A) Stars Solutions Contract vehicle has awarded
Arlington, VA based Creative Information Technology, Inc. (CITI) an integration contract to develop a Biometric Storage System (BSS). DHS/USCIS implements US Immigration policy through the processing and adjudication of
applications for citizenship, asylum, and other immigration benefits, and supports national security by preventing individuals from fraudulently
obtaining these benefits.
PR NewsWire
Date: 2006-10-11 |
Cost of ID card technology pencilled in at £800m
The government expects to spend about £800m on the technology for the national biometric identity card scheme. The overall price tag will be £5.4bn, according to Home Office figures put before Parliament this week in the first of the bi-annual, legally required cost reports. Most of the cost will be for the biometric passport scheme that will act as a first step to ID cards, Home Office minister Liam Byrne told a seminar at the Institute of Public Policy Research this week. ‘Even if I stopped the whole scheme tonight, 70 per cent of the cost will be incurred just to keep our passports up to international standards,’ he said.
Cypress and UPEK Team to Offer Biometric Security Reference Design With Market’s Strongest Protection for External Hard Disk Drives
SAN JOSE, Calif. & EMERYVILLE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE:CY) and UPEK®, Inc. today introduced a reference design to protect data on external hard disk drives (HDDs) by adding biometric security via fingerprint recognition technology. The reference design delivers the industry’s strongest security by authenticating fingerprint matches on-board the external HDD system instead of on the PC, ensuring no data is passed between the HDD and PC until a match has occurred. The new CY4661 reference design uses UPEK’s TouchStrip™ Fingerprint High Security Authentication Solution along with Cypress’s EZ-USB FX2LP™ USB controller to address the growing need for secure personal information and enterprise data on portable drives.
PR NewsWire
Date: 2006-10-12 |
Memories: The Next Step in Biometric Authentication?
We loved the second paragraph of a press release from startup Cogneto that crossed our desk recently. We’ve seen many — too many — releases over the years, but this is the first that claimed anything as grand as being able to identify “online users based on their unique memories and life experiences.”
We thought back to being unable to mount the parallel bars in the fourth grade and wondered whether this was more or less likely to get us into our online bank account quickly. (If so, it was worth it.)
Snide flashbacks aside, we realized that what the company is trying to do is intriguing and a potentially important step as the security industry tries to come up with the best approach to two-factor authentication. Clearly, passwords are the prime authentication factor in such scenarios. Fingerprints most often are the second factor, though some companies are looking at iris scans, so to speak.
The Open Perimeter
Date: 2006-10-11 |
Biometric IDs for port workers coming soon
GALVESTON, Texas, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- By January 2007 the U.S. federal government hopes to issue thousands of biometric identification cards to workers around U.S. port facilities. The Galveston County Daily News reported Oct. 8 that Transportation Security Administration spokesman Darrin Kayser said: "We recognize the program has languished and we're working very hard to make sure we implement this final security measure." The Transportation Security Administration will administer the Transportation Worker Identification Credential Program along with the U.S. Coast Guard. Prior to issuing the biometric cards, federal officials will carry out background checks on 750,000 American longshoremen, truckers, vessel crews, dockworkers, security guards and railway workers who have access to ports and assess them as potential security risks.
Software provides biometric fingerprint recognition.
October 11, 2006 - Supporting Mac OSX platform, VeriFinger 5.0 Software Development Kit provides both 1:1 verification and 1:many matching modes with identification speeds up to 40,000 fingerprints/second. Algorithm can be integrated with any scanner, database, or user interface, providing integration with existing security systems. If user's fingerprint is not scanned properly when first collected, automatic fingerprint quality detection prompts user to repeat scan.
ThomasNet
Date: 2006-10-10 |
ID cards 'could fight illegal working'
IDENTITY cards could help to prevent illegal immigrants receiving healthcare and their children attending school, the Government insisted yesterday, as it disclosed that the scheme would cost £5.4 billion over ten years. The Home Office also suggested that the ID card scheme could end the need for a full census to be conducted on every household every ten years as there would be a national register of everyone in Britain.
Ministers said that the £5.4 billion figure to set up and run the scheme for a decade was only a likely cost. Earlier figures had estimated that the running costs alone for that period would be £5.8 billion.
TimesOnline
Date: 2006-10-10 |
Voice biometrics promise online banking safety
A SPIN OFF of the University of Madrid presented a biometric voice verification product here at the conference today.
Agnitio already sells its products to a wide range of police forces and intelligence agencies worldwide and wants to extend its sales range to the online banking, finance and corporation sectors. The benefits of using voice over iris or fingerprint recognition is you don't need additional hardware, claimed Agnitio CEO Emilio Martinez-Gutierrez.
You can also use it with your mobile phone, he said.
The system doesn't use phonetic or linguistic technology but biometric technology, he said. Its Batvox biometric voice verification is used in forensic labs reports presented to courts in many European countries, he said.
The Inquirer
Date: 2006-10-10 |
Deutsch
Biometrische Zutrittskontrolle bei Bank Pictet & Cie Banquiers
Bei der Schweizer Privatbank Pictet & Cie Banquiers in Genf wird derzeit eine biometrische Zutrittskontrolle eingerichtet. Realisiert wird das Projekt durch Interflex Schweiz und Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies als Generalunternehmer.
Die Bank befindet sich derzeit im Neubau, bei dem gleichzeitig die neue Zutrittskontrolle ohne Schlüssel oder Ausweistechnologie installiert wird. Zum Einsatz kommen biometrische Gesichts- und Iriserkennung sowie so genannte Speedgates zum reibungslosen Einlass. Die Speedgates sollen dafür sorgen, dass zu den Stosszeiten am Morgen keine Verzugszeiten beim Einlass entstehen. Die Parkzufahrtskontrolle wird über eine Nummernschilderkennung umgesetzt.
Alle Komponenten integriert Interflex in ein ganzheitliches Sicherheitssystem auf Basis seiner Software-Lösung IF-6020-Security. Dabei wird nicht nur der Zutritt gesteuert, sondern auch die Zeitbuchungen der Mitarbeiter über die Biometrie erfasst.
Netzwoche Online
Date: 2006-10-10 |
Ungarn testet RFID-Überwachung an Flughäfen
Am ungarischen Flughafen in Debrecen hat die Regierung mit dem Test eines neuen Überwachungssystems begonnen. Fluggäste sollen mit Kameras und RFID-Chips, die sich entweder in Armbändern oder im Boarding-Pass befinden, überwacht werden. Die RFID-Chips können von Datenlesegeräten aus 10 bis 20 Metern Entfernung gelesen werden. In Verbindung mit Panorama-Überwachungskameras ließe sich somit die Position der Passagiere auf einen Meter genau bestimmen
Heise Online
Date: 2006-10-14 |
Bundeskriminalamt startet Test zur Foto-Fahndung
MAINZ Das Interesse der bundesweit agierenden Fernsehsender und Presseagenturen war immens, rund 30 Journalisten waren vor Ort, als der Vizepräsident des Bundeskriminalamtes (BKA), Prof. Jürgen Stock, gestern das Projekt "Foto-Fahndung" im Mainzer Hauptbahnhof vorstellte. Nachdem das BKA in den vergangenen Wochen 200 Freiwillige ausgesucht hat, die an der bis 31. Januar 2007 laufenden Testphase teilnehmen und dabei nahezu tagtäglich die Rolltreppe im Bahnhof passieren, konnte das Forschungsprojekt jetzt starten. Bis Ende Januar testet das BKA nun die Systeme von drei Unternehmen (L1-ID in Kooperation mit der Bosch Sicherheitssysteme GmbH, Crossmatch mit Vitronic Dr. Ing. Stein GmbH und Cognitec) zur biometrischen Gesichtserkennung.
Wiesbadener Tagblat
Date: 2006-10-13 |
Biometrie: ePass birgt Sicherheitsrisiken
Hannover - Der neue biometrische Reisepass soll einen Höchststand an Fälschungssicherheit bieten, so die Verantwortlichen. Doch sein Standardwirrwarr, die komplexe Architektur und ein unausgereift wirkendes Konzept sind alles andere als vertrauenerweckend, schreibt das IT-Profimagazin iX in seiner aktuellen Ausgabe.
Der neue elektronische Reisepass enthält neben den klassischen Sicherheitsmaßnahmen einen RFID-Chip, in dem die Daten des Passinhabers einschließlich einer digitalisierten Version seines Lichtbilds gespeichert sind. Diese Informationen, die mit einem speziellen Lesegerät ausgelesen werden, dienen Grenzbeamten zur Überprüfung der Identität des Reisenden.
Net-Tribune
Date: 2006-10-11 |
Francais
Nouveau : capteur biométrique True Me
True Me est un système d’authentification par empreinte digitale à destination d’internet. On dit de lui qu’il est le premier service d’authentification ayant cette vocation. Il s’agit d’un capteur biométrique qui se connecte sur PC : il ne nécessite aucun mot de passe, nom d’utilisateur ou autre. C’est un service de paiement biométrique de type Pay by Touch que l’on voit dans un certain nombre d’applications aujourd’hui.
TechnoVore
Date: 2006-10-10 |
Nederlands
Nieuwe beveiligde ThinkPads van Lenovo
AMSTERDAM - De Chinese computerfabrikant Lenovo geeft gebruikers van zijn nieuwste ThinkPad notebooks de mogelijkheid de harde schijf te versleutelen met een vingerdruk. Het was al eerder mogelijk om je bij de ThinkPad aan te melden met je vingerafdruk in plaats van een wachtwoord.
Lenovo maakt voor de nieuwe beveiligingstechnologie gebruik van Utimaco’s SafeGuard Easy software dat een certificaat heeft ontvangen van de Amerikaanse overheid voor gebruik door zijn organisaties. De nieuwe notebook komt op een moment dat de ongerustheid over datadiefstal uit gestolen of verloren notebooks toeneemt.
Telegraaf
Date: 2006-10-16 |
Anti-diefstal telefoon in Japan
Automatische blokkering van het toestel als de telefoon de eigenaar verlaat.
NTT DoCoMo, de grootte mobiele aanbieder in Japan, brengt een toestel van Panasonic op de markt dat stopt met functioneren zodra de telefoon uit de buurt van de eigenaar geraakt.
NewScientist en AFP schrijven over de vinding.
De vraag is echter of die effectief is: immers, de blokkering treedt in werking zodra de telefoon buiten bereik komt van een kaartje met een chip die draadloos de identificatie van de telefoon ondersteunt.
Planet Internet
Date: 2006-10-13 |
'Plak passagiers rfid op'
Een Hongaars vliegveld test een beoogd RFID-middel tegen terrorisme. De BBC bericht over een systeemtest van het UCL Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science test het gebruikv an rfid om passagiers op luchthavens te volgen. Deze Britse club van het University College London noemt zich het eerste wetenschappelijk instituut dat het terugdringen van misdaad tot doel heeft. Taboes kent dit instituut blijkens de serie publicaties niet. Er wordt veel besproken en getest. Dat geldt ook voor het project Opta, waarover ook op de website van het instituut de nodige informatie staat. Op de kleine luchthaven van de stad Debrecen in het noordoosten van Hongarije krijgen passagiers bij wijze van proef een Radio Frequency Identification of rfid opgeplakt bij het inchecken. Vervolgens zijn ze op een kaart op de computer precies te traceren. Zo kunnen ze, indien ze nog niet bijtijds bij het vliegtuig zijn om in te stappen, makkelijk worden getraceerd. Zo staat het althans op de website van het instituut. Je zou het ook kunnen toepassen in pretparken om verloren kinderen te traceren, zegt het instituut.
Planet Internet
Date: 2006-10-13 |
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