Here you can find the older Biometric News of Jan. 2011. (Newest on top).
Every week, a selection of this news has been published in the Weekly Biometrics Newsletter.
You can subscribe to this (free) Newsletter by sending an e-mail to rene.bense@xs4all.nl
Showcased at CES in Vegas, the brand unveiled three new products.
Victorinox‘s Slim and Slim Duo flash-drive hiding Swiss Army Knives aren’t the only new folding storage from the company; there’s also an Apple-friendly compact drive with integrated biometrics and an SSD with an integrated e-paper display.
The Victorinox Secure SSD not only manages to be the world’s smallest 256GB SSD, but packs in a 96 x 48 monochrome display for status updates.
There’s also data encryption, the option to personalize what text is shown on the display – so you could advertise your contact details should the drive be lost – and dynamic power management. Victorionix even squeezed in a 32-bit processor.
The Apple Secure has 128GB of storage and an integrated fingerprint scanner, together with a new app that works with OS X. The unique Secure Pro device now has technology compatible with Apple devices.
The application delivers all functionality in Apple-inspired graphical user interface (GUI), making all VSA product management software products Apple compatible.
No word on pricing or availability for either model at this stage.
Norwegian biometrics company Idex ASA said it has received its first order for a trial batch of 1,000 of its fingerprint sensors and complementary software to be used in a biometric card of US company Validus Technologies Inc.
Idex has been in working with Validus over the past six months to embed its patented SmartFinger Film fingerprint solution into the U.S. company's product, called ValidCard, which was presented at the Cartes & IDentification 2010 exhibition in Paris in December.
The ValidCard is a biometric display card with the same shape and size as a standard credit card. Analysts estimate the market for this sort of cards to be in the region of 100 million units per year in 2013. The ultra thin sensor allows the fingerprint reader, verification software and fingerprint data to be incorporated in the card,
Validus' patented biometric authentication solution. With each swipe of an end-user's finger(s), a unique VALIDcard™-OTP (one time password) is created and displayed. While currently in a card form factor (i.e., a credit card form factor), the technology can be deployed in almost any form factor convenient for an end-user. The card based form factor continues to be the most appealing to end-users, authentication issuers, card manufacturers, and personalization companies.
Idex's CEO Ralph Bernstein said. It can be implemented into a variety of applications requiring biometric authentication such as one-time password (OTP) devices, smartcards, ID cards, access control devices and biometric tokens.
On January 18, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began using a federal information sharing capability in Athens County that helps federal immigration officials use biometrics to identify aliens, both lawfully and unlawfully present in the United States, who are booked into local law enforcement's custody for a crime.
This capability is part of Secure Communities' ICE comprehensive strategy to improve and modernize the identification and removal of aliens convicted of a crime from the United States.
Previously, fingerprints taken of individuals charged with a crime and booked into custody were checked for criminal history information against the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS). Now, through enhanced information sharing between DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), biometrics submitted through the state to the FBI will be automatically checked against both the FBI criminal history records in IAFIS and the biometrics-based immigration records in DHS's Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT).
TruTouch's mission is to help eliminate alcohol-related dangers in our workplaces and on our roadways, by providing a simple, accurate and cost-effective biometric intoxication test to ensure worker and driver and equipment operator safety."
The TruTouch Guardian is an advanced intoxication detection device that uses light to measure a subject's alcohol level instead of bodily fluids or other means. With the TruTouch Guardian, a test subject places his or her arm on an infrared scanning system, which then analyzes the level of intoxicant in the subject's system. The device can produce accurate results in less than a minute, and has a built-in biometric identification system to ensure test result integrity. The TruTouch 2000 is a finger touch device that currently can provide analysis in 15 seconds and is now being developed toward a portable format, the TruTouch 3000.
Unlike a Breathalyzer, the TruTouch Guardian and TruTouch 2000 and 3000 devices require no user training, no disposables, no samples, and no operator assistance is required.
Current and future TruTouch applications include:
• Workplace Safety Systems
• Medical Diagnostic Systems
• Alcohol Point-Of-Sale Liability Reduction Systems
• Law Enforcement Systems
• Industrial Safety Systems
• Vehicle Automotive Safety Systems
TruTouch Technologies, Inc. develops, manufactures and sells patented noninvasive biometric alcohol testing systems into both existing and emerging alcohol testing markets. Inspired by the potential to place its passive, durable systems virtually anywhere, For more information visit: www.trutouchtechnologies.com
Ingersoll Rand's security technologies sector has launched HandPunch 3000, a biometric security solution under its Schlage brand. Schlage HandPunch 3000 provides door access solutions and concurrently records time and attendance.
HandPunch 3000 features: user is verified in less than 1 second after analyzing over 31,000 points of hand geometry, over 90 distinct measurements are taken or unique 9 byte hand template, standalone unit or multi unit connections possible,
Integration with other applications for authentication possible, enables easy data collection and management. Time Theft occurs when an employee is paid for time, which he or she did not work. Usually this happens through the falsifying of time records. Research indicates that time theft is not confined to any one type of person or industry.
Recently, Mumbai based leading real estate company Hiranandani Group replaced Finger Print Readers with easy-to-use HandPunch 3000 biometric time clock. By implementing the biometric application from Ingersoll Rand, the group has rid itself of weather, dust and dirt related problems that was leading to inaccurate recording of time and attendance data at their construction sites
It is possible to construct a three-dimensional, 3D, face from flat 2D images, according to research published in the International Journal of Biometrics this month. The discovery could be used for biometrics in security applications or in forensic investigations. Xin Guan and Hanqi Zhuang of Florida Atlantic University on Boca Raton explain how Biometrics, is becoming an increasingly viable solution for identity management.
The researchers have now developed a computer algorithm that can analyze the viewing angle and illumination of a face in an image and generate a 3D view of the face based on the results. The team points out that while our faces are all different they share so many characteristics that it is difficult for current computer technology to uniquely identify an individual from a flat, 2D image. You can download this paper for € 30, or you can look at earlier research papers on this subject by others for free.
3D modeling from 2D pictures is not new. Earlier research (2008) was already done in this field by Volker Blanz & Thomas Vetter of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany.
Look at their impressive results in this 6 minute. Video, and/or download their (free) research paper here.
Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has flagged facial recognition as an ongoing area of development in its increased use of biometric technology. The department is planning to launch a biometrics panel to source specialized biometric support -- especially for facial recognition systems -- for the Australian Passport Office (APO) and to help it develop its own in-house biometrics skills.
According to DFAT documents, the APO has used biometric technology, in particular facial recognition, in the passport production process since 2005.
The intention to launch a biometrics panel follows a major expansion in the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s (DIAC) use of biometrics to include all onshore protection visa applicants.
Under the expansion, announced in December, biometric data will be lodged for all protection visa applicants' data in Australia as well as those visas processed in “selected” overseas locations. Collected data comprises digital facial images and a 10-digit fingerprint scan.
Earlier this month, Sydney Airport said it had expanded its use of facial recognition technology, launching new kiosks and a ‘SmartGate’ to allow international travellers to more quickly establish their identities and pass through security.
findBIOMETRICS, a Biometric Industry Resource, has published their annual comprehensive review of Biometric Industry leaders' thoughts and comments on the following questions:
1. What are the three most significant milestones/announcements for the Biometric Industry in the past year?
2. What are the most pressing issues facing the Biometric Industry as we move into 2011?
3. Was 2010 a good year for your company? What were some of the highlights? What will 2011 hold for your company / organization / department?
Sixty-three companies/industry experts responded to the questionnaire.
The answers to the above questions can be found here for question 1, here for question 2 and here for question 3.
These answers (58 pages) describe the highlights of 2010 and the expectations for 2011 of 63 companies in the Biometrics field.
Read what the industry leaders thought about significant events and milestones for the Biometric Industry last year; pressing issues facing the Biometric Industry for 2011 and what 2011 may hold for Biometrics.
For all those conspiracy theorists out there, 2012 just got a little more ominous. As required by legislation passed this last summer, Russia will adopt a universal ID card starting next year.
The Universal Electronic Card (UEC) is intended to eventually replace all local, regional, and national forms of ID, providing a central database through which Russians can access everything from medical insurance to ATMs. According to the official website, the UEC will be adopted by around 1000 national and regional services along with about 10,000 commercial enterprises.
The mayor of Moscow has already declared it will be able to handle public transportation there, and we can expect similar adoptions throughout the nation. Will all Russians be carrying a single form of ID that is their only passport to all public and private services? Looks like it. A similar project has started in India, and there are experiments for related concepts in Mexico. Universal ID is starting to catch on around the globe. Where will it spread to next?
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. a National Security Solutions provider, announced that its Public Safety & Security Division has been awarded a contract from a national digital infrastructure company to provide a range of physical security and surveillance products, solutions and services.
Under the contract, Kratos will design, engineer and deploy a state-of-the-art surveillance and security system including access control with biometrics, smart cards, extensive interior and exterior IP-based CCTV, alarm monitoring, photo ID and biometric enrollment, and a fiber-optic system.
The effort is part of a large, critical infrastructure facility construction project that requires comprehensive security and surveillance services. The project is expected to be completed by the end of second quarter, 2011. The value of this critical infrastructure security contract is approximately $1.2 million and was awarded to Kratos' Mid-Atlantic office.
Biometrics and RFID firm RCG Holdings says that it is entering the mining sector through an understanding with Spartan Gold. Earlier in the month, AIM-quoted RCG invested £4.19m to take a 4.82% stake in US-focused minerals explorer Spartan.
A memorandum of understanding states that Spartan will adopt, if appropriate, RCG's technology in its own projects. Spartan will also help RCG sell the products to other mining companies. RCG's technology can be sued for security and other uses at mining projects.
The technologies included in the agreement include wireless, biometrics, RFID and Global Positioning System (GPS) to enable tracking of personnel and mobile assets.
Facial recognition technology has emerged as the fastest growing technology among the biometric technologies accepted worldwide and will continue to follow the same trend in future also. Facial Recognition technology is applicable to both verification and identification. In addition, it is the only biometric system that can routinely be used in a covert manner for surveillance as a person's face is easily captured by video technology. The main factor, which has surged the demand for this technology is the capability of surveillance offered exclusively by this technology. Consequently, the facial recognition techniques is estimated to grow at a CAGR of around 31% during 2011-2013, says our new research report “Global Biometric Forecast to 2012”.
“Global Biometric Forecast to 2012” provides thorough research and rational analysis along with reliable statistics of the global biometrics market. The report also provides extensive information on the traditional markets and the emerging technologies. Besides, an insight of trends prevailing in the regional biometrics segments across the globe has been covered in the report. Analysis and statistics regarding market size, growth, share, segmentation, and geographic distribution have been thoroughly studied in the report to present a comprehensive view of the global biometrics market. The report has thoroughly examined current market trends; industrial developments and competitive landscape to enable clients understand the market structure and its progress in coming years.
AOptix has unveiled a new iris camera aimed at the customs and immigration market. "The targeted market for this is the immigration counters within airports," says Phil Tusa, vice president of biometrics at AOptix.
"When you go through modern airports, you'll see that the immigration counters are very nicely designed in many places, they're consumer oriented. Even though the application for immigration control is very serious, these customers want a device that fits into those types of applications in decor and appearance."
The InSight VM is currently available and does not replace the wall-mountable InSight SD.
Tusa sees AOptix building a family of InSight readers, all based on the same iris recognition technology. There is no timeline set for the release of future products, however Tusa did mention handhelds for law enforcement applications as well as a wall-mounted system for shorter-range access control applications.
Watch the Video here:
Download the AOPTIX brochure on Iris recognition here.
There has been a steady growth in the deployment of video surveillance and contactless biometric solutions across specific applications in the Asia Pacific. For instance, voice biometrics is becoming increasingly popular in a number of projects in the banking and healthcare verticals and is expected to soon become the key mode of client identification.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.autoid.frost.com), Asia Pacific Profiles of Local Industry Participants: Physical Security, finds that the market has been promising for biometrics and video surveillance with many of the local vendors providing a complete range of services for these two technologies.
"Following the spurt in demand, numerous local vendors in the region have started to diversify their product portfolio and provide more custom-made solutions," says Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Navin Rajendra.
Cyara Solutions announced that the Cyara Solution Suite, an end-to-end automated simulation, testing and monitoring software solution for Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems and contact centers, has received a 2010 Product of the Year Award from Technology Marketing Corporation's Customer Interaction Solutions magazine.
The Cyara Solution Suite tests IVRs and Contact Centers through initial deployment, subsequent modifications, fine-tuning and ongoing operations in production to ensure exemplary system operation and customer experience.
"Cyara's comprehensive suite of simulation, testing and monitoring solutions helps enterprises redefine their customer service through a better contact center experience, proving our commitment to customer service excellence," says Alok Kulkarni, CEO, Cyara Solutions.
Did you know that up to 100,000 passports processed by the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) during the past six months remain unclaimed?
The department's Office of Consular Affairs (OCA) has no recourse but to cancel and immediately discard the passports if they remain unclaimed "within six months from their scheduled release dates," DFA representative J. Eduardo Malaya said.
"It just doesn't make sense," said an OCA staff member. Malaya noted that "through the receipts issued to them, passport applicants are fully aware when their passports will be released."
"They are also informed by consular personnel that the OCA can hold the passports for only a brief period of time after the normal processing period. Nonetheless, many applicants claim their passports after the due date while some forget about the passports altogether," he said.
Last year, the DFA issued a total of 1,583,183 passports. Passport applicants are no longer required to bring photographs when applying for the ePassport, which the DFA started issuing in late 2009, because pictures are taken using ePassport data-capturing machines at the processing centers.
With the introduction of the state-of-the-art ePassport, the agency "raised its standard one level more above the MRPs with an embedded microchip containing data essential in verifying the passport holder's identity, personal data, biometrics, and digital signature,"
Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo pointed out. "The chip can be read by any standard (passport) machine reader in border controls worldwide. It features a hidden and coded technology that allows the encoding of the holder's name and passport number on the passport photo," said Romulo.
Mexico will on Monday the 31 of January become the first country to start using iris scans for identity cards, according to the government.
The documents, which will include the eye's image as well as fingerprints, a photo and signature, will be 99 per cent reliable, according to Felipe Zamora, who is responsible for legal affairs at the Mexican interior ministry.
"The legal, technical and financial conditions are ready to start the process of issuing this identity document," Felipe Zamora, responsible for legal affairs at the Mexican Interior Ministry, told journalists Thursday.
Critics, including the National Human Rights Commission, have criticised the system, expressing concern that compiling personal data could violate individual rights.
The move will be introduced gradually, with some 28 million minors taking part in a first two-year stage, due to cost $25 million (£15.6 million).
The cards are due to start for adults from 2013.
Iris recognition is increasingly used in airports, controlling access to restricted areas, and prisoner booking and release.
Former governor Jesse Ventura never shied away from a battle during his one term as Minnesota's chief executive. Now, as a "television performer," as he describes himself in a new lawsuit, the former pro-wrestler is trying to launch a legal smackdown against the agencies that are supposed to protect the flying public.
In a complaint filed Monday morning in the U.S. District Court for Minnesota, Ventura is suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its secretary, Janet Napolitano, as well as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and its administrator, John Pistole.
Ventura accuses the agencies of violating his "basic rights to privacy and dignity, and his right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures," after he received a pat-down by a TSA agent at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in November 2010.
Ventura, who said he has a titanium implant after hip replacement surgery in 2008, alleges the pat-down included "warrantless, non-suspicion-based offensive touching, gripping and rubbing of the genital and other sensitive areas of his body," which, the lawsuit contends, met "the definition for an unlawful sexual assault."
Watch the Video here:
John Pistole head of TSA
Ever since new airport security procedures went into effect in late October, the Transportation Security Administration has been at the center of controversy.
The combination of enhanced image screening with invasive patdowns for those who opt out has rankled civil liberties advocates and some of the flying public. John Pistole, the head of the TSA, is a 26-year veteran of the FBI -- an expert in counterterrorism and for six years the bureau's deputy director.
As TSA administrator since July, he finds himself having to defend the new measures. James Fallows and Jeffrey Goldberg spoke with Pistole. Read the whole interview here.
TruTouch Technologies, a company that says its mission is to "create a world where intoxication is routinely intercepted before it does harm," has raised $2.1 million as part of an expanded series A funding that includes both venture capital and angel investors.
The company produces a device that measures alcohol intoxication by using biometrics. Instead of taking a breathalyzer or a urine sample, the TruTouch Guardian product requires that the person lay their arm on the infrared scanning device, which measures light, rather than bodily fluids.
The company, based in Framingham, Mass and Albuquerque, NM, says the device would enable employers to test for intoxication daily. Photos on the website depict school buses and truck drivers, but also an office worker with a flask in her purse. "We are delighted to announce the closure of this oversubscribed expanded financing round, which will help advance commercialization of our current
TruTouch intoxication detection systems, which are already enjoying success in the law enforcement support, oil drilling, military and transportation operation workplace markets," CEO Richard Gill said in a statement.
The research firm MarketsandMarkets has released a new study of the biometrics marketplace that projects a heavy growth rate over the next four years. "Advances in Biometric Technologies and Market Analysis" breaks down the various modes of biometrics such as fingerprint, iris and facial and by regions such as North America, Asia and Europe.
Specifically, the report projects a compound annual growth rate of 21.6 percent between 2010 and 2015, which would result in a marketplace worth over $11 billion.
While the mode projected to have the largest share of the marketplace in 2015 is still fingerprint biometrics with a 19 percent growth rate, iris, vein and facial biometrics are expected to close their respective gaps with growth rates of 27.5 percent, 25.4 percent and 24.2 percent.
The key questions answered in this report:
- Which are the high-growth segments/cash cows and how is the market segmented in terms of applications and materials?
- What are market estimates and forecasts; which markets are doing well and which are not?
- Where are the gaps and opportunities; what is driving the market?
- Which are the key playing fields? Which are the winning edge imperatives?
- How is the competitive outlook; who are the main players in each of the segments; what are the key selling products; what are their strategic directives, operational strengths and product pipelines? Who is doing what?
For more details on this $ 4.650,- report visit their website here:
Frankfurt – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) called on security regulators around the world to work together to make the skies more secure by addressing the challenges related to cargo security and data collection. IATA also unveiled plans to lead a global effort to build an airport checkpoint of the future, which will tighten security and ease passenger hassle.
“We are much more secure than in 2001, but there is room for improvement,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO at the opening of AVSEC World in Frankfurt, Germany. Bisignani identified several areas where more progress is needed to further improve aviation security and address passenger frustrations:
American Reliance, Inc. announced that it has joined the EDGE® Innovation Network, an initiative of industrial, academic, and government leaders that use cooperation to accelerate the delivery cycle of new capabilities to war fighters and first responders.
AMREL is best known for its ROCKY line of rugged, mobile computers, trusted by war fighters for over 20 years. AMREL has customized its ROCKY platforms for common robotic control, handheld multimodal biometrics, mobile mesh networks, hybrid off-grid energy systems, and battlefield medical applications.
"Our involvement in the EDGE Network will be a win-win experience," explains Richard Lane, vice president of strategic business development. "This brings new opportunities to the company for collaboration, while allowing us to offer our expertise in rapid prototyping and customization of our rugged mobile computer line -- as well as introducing our hybrid battlefield energy systems to the Defense and Public Safety industries."
EPIC, the Electronic Privacy Information Center , did organize a panel discussion on Airport Security Procedures and Body Scanners.
This 1 hour and 8 minutes Video of this event last week Panelists spoke about the use of body scanners at security checkpoints in airports. In his remarks, Ralph Nader called for more government oversight of the Transportation Security Agency’s enhanced airport security measures. Panelists also responded to questions from the audience.
Watch the Video here.
Some researchers at the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at WVU got some federal dollars to work with border security. They received $400,000 from the Department of Homeland Security to work on the "Borders project." They will be researching identification and surveillance techniques through biometrics.
Researchers say WVU was brought on board because of the research they do in biometric recognition. "WVU has conducted a lot of research in this field called 'biometric recognition,' and, so, that's part of the reason why we have become one of the universities nvolved in this consortium," says Arun Ross, WVU associate professor, and co-investigator on the project.
It is a 6-year, $16 million project led by the University of Arizona that involves more than 10 universities.
Watch the short Video here.
Since current airport security technology is largely reactive to known threats, competent evildoers will eventually change their tactics to skirt by and do their worst. With that in mind, a new tactic could be pancakes.
Not pancakes you'd necessarily eat, of course, but PETN pancakes. Potential attackers could take the notoriously explosive material and smooth it into a pancake shape to mimic the contours of the abdomen using dimensions of about about 15-20cm in diameter and 1cm thick. Voila: hidden explosive.
This, according to a report in the Journal of Transportation Security
It is very likely that a large (15-20 cm in diameter), irregularly-shaped, cm-thick pancake with beveled edges, taped to the abdomen, would be invisible to this technology, ironically, because of its large volume, since it is easily confused with normal anatomy. Thus, a third of a kilo of PETN, easily picked up in a competent pat down, would be missed by backscatter "high technology". Forty grams of PETN, a purportedly dangerous amount, would fit in a 1.25 mm-thick pancake of the dimensions simulated here and be virtually invisible. Packed in a compact mode, say, a 1 cm×4 cm×5 cm brick, it would be detected.
Where a simple pat down would effectively mitigate this threat, the multi-million dollar backscatter machines would do nothing.
Oh, and conspicuous wires and thin blades? Potentially invisible as well:
The images are very sensitive to the presence of large pieces of high Z material, e. g., iron, but unless the spatial resolution is good, thin wires will be missed because of partial volume effects. It is also easy to see that an object such as a wire or a box- cutter blade, taped to the side of the body, or even a small gun in the same location, will be invisible. While there are technical means to mildly increase the conspicuity of a thick object in air, they are ineffective for thin objects such as blades when they are aligned close to the beam direction.
This makes it almost less of a privacy issue, and more an incredible waste of money on an ineffective technology.
See what Stephen Colbert has to say about this one on this Video
AuthenWare®, a leading cybersecurity software provider, announced that it has entered into a reseller agreement with 2Keys Security Solutions, allowing it to resell the company's flagship multi-factor authentication security software.
The AuthenWare technology incorporates keystroke dynamics, a form of behavioral biometrics, to recognize valid users and to stop identity theft, web fraud and other system intrusions AuthenWare's zero-footprint approach towards user validation and authentication incorporates a series of biometric security algorithms that record and measure how a person uniquely types their credentials.
See the Authenware Whitepaper on keystroke dynamics here
M2SYS Technology, a global biometrics research and development firm, announced it will participate showcased Bio-SnapOn a desktop biometric add-on solution that supports iris, fingerprint, finger vein, and palm vein biometrics through M2SYS' unique Hybrid Biometric Platform technology.
Bio-SnapOn (TM) can be used in workforce management and retail point of service environments to eliminate buddy punching, maximize employee productivity, reduce costs, cut fraud and waste, strengthen security and increase operational efficiencies.
M2SYS also exhibited Hybrid Biometric Platform, a pre-built, enterprise ready, scalable biometric recognition system. Hybrid Biometric Platform offers unprecedented flexibility to ensure that customers are never locked into a single biometric technology or biometric device that might not reliably work for all users.
A telecare system that incorporates biometric data promises to improve the safety and security of vulnerable and elderly people living alone. Working in collaboration with the UK's Kent University's School of Engineering and Digital Arts (EDA), information specialist Inmezzo is developing methods to identify individuals through voice-pattern and face recognition.
In recent years, there has been growing emphasis on the delivery of at-home telecare for people living alone. As this technology becomes more widespread and integrated into existing healthcare models, security and sensitivity of data will become paramount, explained EDA's Prof Michael Fairhurst.
"If you are delivering medical advice or perhaps taking measurements to assess the state of health in the home, where the environment is less controlled, you need to be pretty sure the person you think you're exchanging information with is the right person," he said
Biometrics allows you to do that in the most fundamental and reliable way."
Security Expert Bruce Schneier spoke about airport security as the last line of defense against terrorists. He was the keynote speaker at the day-long conference examining the Transportation Security Agency’s use of body scanners and enhanced pat-downs at airports around the country.
Watch this 33 minute Video here.
The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. is set to unveil a new facial recognition program at all 27 of its gambling facilities in Ontario. It is being praised as a high roller in the privacy protection game. "It's the most privacy-protected system using biometric encryption in the world," said Ann Cavoukian, Ontario's privacy commissioner, who approved the new system.
Beginning May, each person who enters an Ontario casino will have their face digitally scanned by a camera; that image will be run through a database of more than 15,000 people with gambling problems who have voluntarily put themselves on a banned list.
The system relies on bone structure and specific points on the face -- like the distance between your eyes, nose, and mouth. If the computer finds a match, security is notified. If not, your image is discarded, and casual gamblers may play away.
The new system will replace the current practice of having security staff personally detect gamblers who have returned to a casino after placing themselves on the self-excluded list.
Cognitec Systems, a producer of face recognition technology and systems, announced that its new comparison algorithm B5T8 has now been integrated into all products.
New versions of four Cognitec products are now available for integrators and end-customers. Cognitec's latest B5T8 face recognition engine represents "a further enhanced and optimized version" of the algorithm used during the recent NIST evaluation MBE-STILL.
While according to the company these early MBE-STILL test results demonstrated the operational performance of Cognitec's algorithms across all test protocols, the performance of the Company's algorithms particularly excelled in the more challenging tests reflective of common real-world scenarios -- such as searches of very large photo databases of government-issued passport or drivers license.
Based on the algorithm used during the test, Cognitec released the production version B5T8 that features even further increased recognition performance, smaller memory footprint, and faster processing.
Download the latest NIST MBE 2D face reports here.
iEvo, a UK based company, has announced the launch of a biometric reader for use in access systems, which they claim will change perception of biometric technology worldwide. iEvo is the result of several years’ research and eighteen months of development.
The reader incorporates the latest robust electronics and biometric fingerprint recognition systems and has come about as the result of close consultation with end users, installers, and integrators. system scans fingerprint through dust, dirt, water, grease, oil, creams.
The iEvo system integrates with existing card or fob access systems and has been designed to "work out of the box," requiring basic electrical installation skills and minimal maintenance. Among the innovations of the iEvo system is an internal heater that activates when the temperature drops to eight degrees, meaning the unit can operate to a minimum of minus twenty degrees Celsius.
The iEvo system is a fingerprint system with a difference, it will scan your finger print through levels of dust, dirt, water, grease, oil, creams and even some latex gloves, all proved in the product video available on their media page of their website. The product is continuing to being rolled out in the UK with oversees agents appointed later in the year. Installers, security consultants and electrical wholesalers have adopted the Ievo reader all have been amazed at the capabilities of this reader.
This reader will do the job under the most harsh environments.
Ø Submerged in snow
Ø Submerged under water
Ø Extreme temperatures, works down to -20 degrees
Ø Works through a layer of oil / creams
Ø Works through layers of dust / powder
Ø Some latex gloves, no problem
Ø Whilst finger is wet
Ø Whilst reader is wet
See the test Video of this amazing fingerprint reader here:
The introduction of biometrics into the UK visa process has been an undoubted success. However, while applications for visas can be made online there is then the question of the provision of biometric data -- 10-digit fingerprints and a digital photo.
In some world regions, such as South America, this process can involve a significant journey -- perhaps even to another country. For example, in the case of Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, it requires the applicant to make a trip to Buenos Aires in Argentina, which is the nearest point. (A distance of more than one thousand kilometers).
One of the improvements that the UK Government are considering introducing to countries where this problem arises is the so-called mobile clinic, where people are available on the ground.
In a debate in the UK's House of Lords, Pauline Neville-Jones, the Minister of state responsible for security and counter-terrorism, explained that this process requires a suitcase-full of kit in order to be able to take people's biometrics.
The Minister commented: "Increasingly we want to introduce mobile facilities, most particularly in those places where otherwise a long journey, possibly even to another country, might be required. I am not saying that that is going to be the case everywhere immediately, but the aim is certainly to make the system itself self-contained and more efficient."
Over the years, fingerprinting has evolved from an inky mess to pressing fingers on sensor screens to even a few touch-free systems that work at a short distance. Now a company has developed a prototype of a device that can scan fingerprints from up to two meters away, an approach that could prove especially useful at security checkpoints in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
The device, called AIRprint, is being developed by Advanced Optical Systems (AOS). It detects fingerprints by shining polarized light onto a person's hand and analyzing the reflection using two cameras configured to detect different polarizations.
Joel Burcham, director for projects at the Huntsville, Alabama-based company, says AIRprint could help make authorization more efficient in lots of settings. Instead of punching a keypad code or pressing fingers to a scanner, individuals could simply hold up a hand and walk toward a security door while the device checks their identity. "We're looking at places where the standard methods are a hassle," says Burcham. For instance, AIRprint could be linked to a timecard system, he says, to help avoid a logjam at manufacturing plants at the start or end of the workday.
The prototype device, which scans a print in 0.1 seconds and processes it in about four seconds, can handle only one finger at a time. Also, the scanned finger must remain at a fixed distance from the device. But by April, Burcham expects to have made significant improvements. By then, he says, the device should be able to scan five fingers at once even if a person is moving toward or away from the cameras, and the processing time ought to have dropped to less than a second.
In the excitement leading up to April's presidential election in Nigeria, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may have gotten a little carried away with its mandate to have a clean and fair elections. In the INEC voter registration process, prospective registrants are required at scan all 10 of their fingerprints, one at a time, using a small livescan fingerprint reader.
So why would the Nigerian government be so keen on collecting 10 fingerprints? Could Akin Akintayo be right in his worry about alternate uses:
Generally, the 10 fingers are only captured for police documents or in this age of paranoia regarding terrorism at certain points of entry around the globe.
I hate to think that this voter registration exercise has been sold to the election commission as a dual-purpose function to be shared with the security agencies which for all intents and purposes can be very helpful to crime solving for but it should not have featured at all in the primary exercise of voter registration.
The issue of civil liberties probably has not gained enough traction as to the sensitivity of this kind of data, who would eventually have access to it, how it would be secured, if citizens have right of access to modify or delete their information and much more.
Designed for use with PCs in an organization, PalmSecure LOGONDIRECTOR integrates Fujitsu PalmSecure palm vein biometric authentication technology with IBM's Tivoli Access Manager for single sign-on.
The product enables managers to protect data while maintaining compliance with HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, PCI DDS, and other industry and federal regulations. The PalmSecure sensor is embedded into a PC mouse so passwords do not have to be remembered, cannot be lost or stolen, and help desk costs will not increase due to missing passwords. Log-in is accomplished with the palm vein sensor -- a biometric more accurate than fingerprinting and on par with iris scan, but less intrusive -- for secure access to all the files and applications the user is authorized to use.
Users hold their hand over a small scanning mechanism attached to their computer via a USB cord. Using near-infrared light, it captures their palm vein pattern, which generates a biometric template that is matched against their pre-registered palm vein and recognizing their identity and what access it affords them.
DigitalPersona, Inc., a global provider of authentication and endpoint protection solutions, today announced that Tomax, a leading provider of real-time merchandising and store execution software applications and services, has integrated U.are.U®fingerprint biometrics from DigitalPersona into their Retail.net Point of Sale and Workforce Optimization software solutions.
By using U.are.U fingerprint readers, Retail.net helps retailers boost productivity through more efficient system login, decrease shrink from unauthorized voids and reduce payroll fraud.
According to The Centre for Retail Research’s Global Retail Theft Barometer, employee fraud and theft result in approximately $40.7 billion of retail shrink per year.
Additionally, the American Payroll Association estimates payroll fraud can account for up to five percent of total payroll expense.
DigitalPersona’s fingerprint recognition technology provides retailers with quick, secure logon that incorporates identity into each transaction and reduces fraudulent activities such as cash register shrink and “buddy-punching.”
DigitalPersona U.are.U fingerprint readers are integrated into most of the leading biometrically-enabled POS terminals, and can also be plugged into existing POS terminals as USB peripherals.
Project Management and consultancy firm DPS Engineering is expanding into the U.S. with the purchase of Biometrics, a Massachusetts-based firm. The company has already done some work in the U.S, but managing director Frank Keogh said it had been looking for opportunities to move in there.
Biometrics provides project management, engineering, and consultancy services to industries such as biopharmaceuticals (developing drugs from biological instead of chemical compounds).
Sydney Airport has expanded its use of facial recognition technology, launching new kiosks and a "SmartGate" to allow international travelers to more quickly establish their identities and pass through security.
The expansion -- four new kiosks and one gate -- brings Sydney Airport's total up to sixteen kiosks and eight gates and will available for use by Australian e-passport holders aged 18 and over and New Zealand e-passport holders.
Commuters wishing to use the gates must first answer basic questions at a kiosk then have their faces scanned at the gates. These scans are then matched with Customs and Border Protection's passport records.
Commuters with correct matches will then be allowed into the country. According to federal home affairs minister, Brendan O'Connor, the average time to establish a commuter's identity using the technology is 38 seconds.
The use of the SmartGates in Australia has climbed in the past year. In January 2010 some one million people had used the biometric technology in Australia. As at the Sydney Airport's expansion, some 2.7 million had used it, according to O'Connor. More than one million passengers are expected to pass through Sydney International Airport in the first two months of 2011.
Convicted murderer Charles Heard received 25 years to life in prison for killing Richard Barrett in 2008 -- a crime that prosecutors say was done as he attempted to steal Barrett's pendant of cave-baby Bamm-Bamm from The Flintstones. Police said two men tried to steal Barrett's jewel-encrusted necklace and when Barrett resisted and ran, he was shot twice in the back.
Heard was sentenced yesterday by Judge Jerome Benson, according to the San Francisco Appeal. He was convicted in July 2010, but his sentencing was delayed while defense attorney Eric Safire argued that Heard deserved a new trial based on mistaken instructions Benson delivered to the original jury.
Benson denied the motion for a new trial last month. A convicted murderer received 25 years to life in prison for a 2008 killing.
It was the first time face-recognition "biometrics" technology -- commonly used to identify terrorists in public places -- was used in a San Francisco criminal courtroom.
Lumidigm recently announced that its biometrics products, which provide fingerprint access even when wearing clear surgical gloves, are the solution for hospitals that spend $100 to $200 per employee per year supporting password-based systems -- and even more for token- or card-based systems -- while trying to ensure the protection and safety of patient information.
Lumidigm Mercury multispectral imaging sensors capture fingerprint data beneath the surface of the skin so that dryness or gloves create no problems for reliable reads. Using multiple wavelengths of light and advanced polarization techniques to extract unique fingerprint characteristics from both the surface and subsurface of the skin, Lumidigm's sensors provide results that are more consistent, more inclusive and more tamper resistant than conventional biometric readers.
At a crime scene, we regularly find latex or vinyl gloves which have been left behind by the perpetrators. As crime scene officers, we are then confronted with the question of what to do with these gloves. We know these used gloves can contain fingerprints but how to make them visible?
In most cases such gloves are secured only for DNA investigation. Sometimes there are attempts to make prints visible, usually with chemical methods, but as most of us probably have experienced, the results of chemical methods are usually not very satisfying.
Usually perspiration and the powder in these gloves are blamed for having destroyed the latent fingerprints.
Then in the middle of 2001, a colleague handed me four latex gloves which had been thrown away by burglars when leaving a crime scene. As so often before, I started working on the gloves, treating two of them with ninhydrin and the others with cyanoacrylate fuming. Unfortunately, both methods failed to visualize any prints.
After this disappointment, I wondered if it might be possible to get any fingerprints off of these gloves using a black gelatin lifter.
With a piece of PVC tubing, stuck in the fingers of each glove, every finger was rolled ten 360° revolutions over a length of black Gellifter.
To my amazement, a number of excellent prints were lifted from these chemically treated gloves. I had a strong suspicion that this could be a real breakthrough.
So burglars beware: wear two gloves on each hand and only throw away the outer pair…..
Download the pdf version of this (Dutch) Forensics document here:
The Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR) at West Virginia University is an industry and university research cooperative that receives funding through affiliates for researching biometrics and identification technologies, says Bojan Cukic, director at the center.
The center has been in existence for nine years and affiliates include 14 different government agencies and some of the largest biometric systems integrators which direct the center on what research to perform.
The center has performed research defining quality metrics for all biometric modalities as well as the degradation of iris biometrics when a quality image is not captured, among other topics as well.
Stephanie Schuckers, associate professor of electrical and computing engineering at Clarkson University, explains some of the research underway at the center, including molecular biometrics which includes rapid DNA testing. “We’re looking at the molecular analysis where decisions are made automatically and looking at those decisions and the validity of the decisions,” she says.
The center is also looking at how biometrics can be integrated into social networking and cyber identities, how individuals protect an identity online and use it to create a trusted link to someone else.
Watch the video here:
Speech recognition giant Nuance has confirmed to TMCnet that it has acquired PerSay, a voice biometrics company based in Israel. Through this deal, Nuance said in a statement provided to TMCnet that it will be able to provide "best of breed" voice biometrics solutions to a variety of markets. Nuance also told TMCnet that it plans to announce its vision for and strategy around the joint solutions in the coming months. PerSay offers three language- and accent-independent speaker verification solutions: "
1) VocalPassword: A biometric speaker verification system that verifies a speaker during an interaction with a voice application;
2)FreeSpeech: A unique text-independent biometric speaker verification system that transparently verifies the identity of a speaker during the course of a natural conversation
3)S.P.I.D: An advanced voice mining and speaker identification system for law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
It appears that the country’s redundant bureaucracy can be a boon for some.
A case in point: The East Jakarta Immigration Office. The hassle that comes from applying for passports has created a cottage industry of passport brokers.
It was here that former tax official Gayus H. Tambunan allegedly obtained a passport under a fake name, Sony Laksono, that he later used to travel to Macau and Kuala Lumpur in September last year. (A passport photo with spactacles!?).
But you don’t have to be a well-connected suspect in a tax scam trial to be able to obtain a passport quickly. All you need is cash, lots of it.
Officially, the East Jakarta Immigration Office charges applicants Rp 270,000 (US$30) for a regular passport and Rp 600,000 for an electronic passport, both processed in eight days. But in case you need it sooner, there has never been a short supply of brokers who can be as powerful as the immigration officials.
Via a broker (who can be found in the same building) your passport can be done in three days for Rp 750,000. If you want it to be finished in one day, you need to pay Rp 1,500,000,” said Lulu, who claimed that she ran the brokerage operation with her husband for the past 20 years.
Hoyos Corporation announced a partnership with Herta Security to implement iris scanning technology in airports in an attempt to solve airline security issues and create a secure process from check-in to boarding. One of the first joint initiatives will be to create a pilot program to run in Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain.
The pilot program is expected to roll out in early 2011 and uses Hoyos' iris biometrics technology to increase airline security and improve the passenger boarding process. Jeff Carter, chief development officer at Hoyos, said it was not yet determined exactly how the program would operate, but it would most likely involve travelers enrolling in a program and providing various documents to prove identity.
The program in Spain will be based on Hoyos' tests on the Mexico and U.S. border with the Mexican immigration officials, Carter says. The pilot just ended a few weeks ago and Hoyos was able to identify up to 50 people per minute. "The test helped us understand how to set up lanes with high amounts of traffic," Carter says. The iris system was used to help determine unusual patterns for Mexican citizens crossing the border.
IDesia, a provider of BDS" (BioDynamic Signature") biometric healthcare technology, announced that it will be adding the Fitness Monitor application to its comprehensive, consumer-oriented portfolio of biometrics-enabled healthcare applications.
While individual heartbeats may appear similar, they conceal individually unique information. Requiring that users merely touch contact sensitive sensor plates, IDesia's BDS" technology extracts, accurately interprets and -- following a short and effortless enrollment process -- can use this information to enable a broad range of consumer electronics device-based healthcare applications.
These include heart rate monitoring, stress level and mood monitoring, heart rate reduction training and ECG monitoring, among many more. Given the personal nature of the healthcare information seamlessly and continuously captured by IDesia's consumer healthcare applications, the technology powering these applications has been designed to be inherently secure and spoof-resistant.
BDS"-powered devices do not blindly report health and heartbeat indicators regardless of user identity. Once touched, they actually recognize their users, serving them only and no one else.
The standard cane and guide dog isn’t going to be enough, and this is where the conceptual Blinput system could potentially come in handy. Smartphones have already proven their worth as navigation devices for sighted people but a new concept aims to go even further for the vision impaired. Dubbed blinput, the system would allow visually impaired people to not only find their way around, but also interact with the connected world using the Smartphone's camera to gather context relevant information that would then be relayed to the user through a pair of headphones.
The blinput system would see a visually impaired person wearing a smartphone around their neck with the camera facing out and a pair of headphones that would produce audio in 3D. With sound being an even more important sense for the visually impaired, these would be open headphones to allow ambient noise to be heard.
To navigate the system's controls the user would hold their hand in front of the phone's camera and scroll through options, which are read out to them, by moving their hand up or down and select options with a pinch of their fingers.
This simple user interface would not only allow them to get directions, but would also allow them to interact with devices such as vending or ticket machines that are embedded with RFID or Bluetooth.
Additionally, the concept envisages stores installing beacons to allow visually impaired shoppers to find items easily. Once the user has found their way to the desired product range, they can then identify specific products by holding up the item's barcode to the smartphone camera.
To watch the Video of this new concept go to here:
Chinese researchers have given new meaning to the term "watch your step" with a so-called "spy pad," a device that can identify people by their gait, the South China Morning Post reported. According to a Wikileaks document released in December, the device is able to capture the biometric information of anyone who steps on it, such as the dimension, weight and force applied by a person's foot when they walk.
Developers believe these statistics are unique to each individual and can be used for identification.
The spy pad's sensors are so sensitive that they are supposedly able to track human targets even if they have changed shoes.
According to the SCMP report, spy pads were created by scientists at China's IIM, or Institute of Intelligent Machines, reportedly in collaboration with developers at Nintendo, which may explain the device's similarities with the Wii Fit Balance Board.
Uzbek President Islam Karimov signed a decree on additional measures to improve the passport system in the Republic of Uzbekistan. The decree approved the position of passport system and provision of biometric travel document to stateless persons.
It has also been reported that Uzbekistan plans to introduce the passport system based on biometric data from 2011. Passports of employees, working in state institutions and citizens, traveling or staying abroad, as well as those receiving a passport for the first time or exchanging due to expiration, will be replaced in 2011. All other citizens must get biometric passports in the second phase from 2012-2015.
Technology company IAI industrial systems B.V. in Veldhoven, a subsidiary of the stock listed company DOCDATA N.V. in Waalwijk, the Netherlands, will supply three BookMaster One systems to Uzbekistan for the personalization of the new Uzbek passport, a source in the government told Trend earlier.
French Oberthur Technologies SA will participate in a project to create a single multi-service network to draw up passport and visa documents based on biometrics worth 75.107 million euro in Uzbekistan.
The systems will be installed at the State Center of Personification in Tashkent and are expected to be delivered in 2011.
Neurotechnology, a provider of high-precision biometric identification technologies, today (10 Jan.) announced the release of MegaMatcher 4.0, a multi-biometric software development kit (SDK) that integrates fingerprint, iris, facial and palmprint biometrics in a single, high-performance SDK that requires no add-ons. In MegaMatcher 4.0,
Neurotechnology has incorporated palmprint technology along with the latest versions of their popular VeriFinger (fingerprint), VeriEye (iris) and VeriLook (facial) biometric SDKs – all of which are now built on a common architecture and feature a common programming interface.
This tight integration enables developers and integrators to more quickly and easily develop systems that use any of the different biometric components singularly or in combination for increased flexibility and reliability.
Here a screenshot of MM 4.0
Frost & Sullivan has released a new analysis called The Indian Biometric Market.
The report estimates roughly a ten times growth of the biometric market in the region by 2015. Among the report's reasoning is the major increase in needs for securing people, assets, information and facilities which results in an increase in biometric access control solutions, as well as an increase in large-scale government ID and security programs that utilize biometric technology.
Biometrics’ ability to provide high-tech security and access restriction by tracking and preventing fraud has also given it a leg up.
Despite the market’s potential, the poor awareness, lack of a unified standard for biometric readers, as well as inadequate expertise and investments are restraining the market. India has not yet started manufacturing biometric devices domestically because the sensors have to be imported. Owing to a surfeit of imports, the market is flooded with low-cost, low-quality devices.
As these devices often fail to meet quality standards, customers’ confidence in the technology is fast eroding. Nevertheless, the penetration of Internet and mobile services in far-flung areas has made novel technologies accessible to all. “Further, technology upgrades have reduced the costs of biometric devices, popularizing it among all classes of users,” notes the analyst.
For more information on this report click here.
Rocky Flats Gear ™ is the US manufacture of revolutionary patent pending flexible, attractive, lightweight, radiation shielding and privacy garments. Our emphasis is on protecting the traveling public, airline, medical, and security professionals from radiation generated by backscatter, x-ray and mm-wave imaging equipment.
Modesty, privacy of your children, stored security or medical images a concern? Sensitive tissues not of interest to imaging procedure will be protected and obscured, avoids potential child pornography and stored image medical issues (HIPPA compliance).
Background radiation plus increasing man made sources, excessive medical/security imaging procedures, atomic weapons testing, coal power plant emissions of thorium-40, use of depleted uranium (DU) munitions and, industrial accidents are putting us all at greater cancer risk and generational DNA damage. Our Lead (Pb) free, materials were scientifically selected and tested not to trigger metal detectors, or interfere with security procedures.
Our high performance eight layer shield is thin yet flexible conforms to body contours with no unsightly bulges, will not interfere with a professional pat down.
Our radiological shields are USA made, attractive, durable, reusable, affordable, and comfortable to wear. We offer a variety of products to protect the breast, ovary and, testicles we are adding new products all the time.
(Comment: Of course these garments will give you a lot of delay and probably you will miss your connection flight, if you are going to wear these things).
A new fingerprint security system could offer an alternative to remembering multiple online account passwords. A master's student at Southampton University has developed software and an accompanying website known as FingerID that will allow users to access multiple Web sites without having to register their details repeatedly.
However, some argue that such a system is subject to error and therefore would face opposition where it is seen as socially unacceptable. FingerID's creator, Sara Alotaibi, told The Engineer that she wanted to bring the security of fingerprint verification to the web to make it easy for anyone to use.
"There is not any software system that does what FingerID does because it focuses on accessibility and usability as well as security," she said. While fingerprint scanners are already built-in to some PCs as a security measure, biometric verification has yet to be taken up by online account services such as banks and shops.
FingerID may offer a solution to this problem because the fingerprint is held only on the user's own computer by the FingerID software and is saved as data rather than an image.
(Comment: if developed correctly, the worry of "stealing" a stored fingerprint template isn't all that great. It's like having a lock without a key - and the key can't be created without the lock owner present).
Airmen assigned to Combined-Joint Task Force Troy are dedicated to countering improvised explosive devices and saving lives of Iraqi and joint forces conducting Operation New Dawn. The airmen are involved in everything from operations to intelligence and information technology support. They are battlefield airmen serving in joint expeditionary taskings alongside joint and interagency colleagues. U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jason Snow, deployed from Langley Air Force Base, Va., is often one of the first people to process evidence associated with the counter-IED mission. Sgt. Snow is the non-commissioned officer in charge of the task force's Combined Explosives Exploitation Cell triage laboratory. "Something as simple as which laboratory examines the evidence first can have a dramatic effect on the results," said Sgt. Snow. "For example, the electronics exam may destroy trace explosive residue, while chemical sampling may destroy valuable fingerprints collected by biometrics."
After evidence has been processed and sorted by the triage laboratory, it continues its journey. Chemical, biometric and technical laboratory teams all work to improve the way ground forces attack and defeat IEDs and IED networks.
U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jason Snow, United States Forces-Iraq
Combined Joint Task Force Troy's Combined Explosive Exploitation Cell Triage Laboratory non-commissioned officer in charge, takes a closer look at an unknown substance Dec. 26, on Camp Victory, Iraq.
One key responsibility of CJTF Troy and CEXC is neutralizing the improvised explosive devices, threat through collection and exploitation of IED evidence and related intelligence. CJTF Troy is dedicated to countering IED's and saving lives of Iraqi and joint forces conducting Operation New Dawn.
Last fall, as he had done hundreds of times, Iranian-American businessman Farid Seif passed through security at a Houston airport and boarded an international flight.
He didn't realize he had forgotten to remove the loaded snub nose "baby" Glock pistol from his computer bag. But TSA officers never noticed as his bag glided along the belt and was x-rayed. When he got to his hotel after the three-hour flight, he was shocked to discover the gun traveled unnoticed from Houston.
"It's just impossible to miss it, you know. I mean, this is not a small gun," Seif told ABC News. "How can you miss it? You cannot miss it."
But the TSA did miss it, and despite what most people believe about the painstaking effort to screen airline passengers and their luggage before they enter the terminal, it was not that unusual. TSA agents are now so busy groping and irradiating airline passengers that they are routinely missing the presence of bombs and guns in both tests and live situations.
Suprema, Inc., a global provider of biometrics and ID solutions, announced that the company's fingerprint algorithms ranked best in the internationally recognized Fingerprint Verification Competition - onGoing (FVC-onGoing) for Fingerprint Matching category.
The FVC onGoing test results, released on December 15, 2010, revealed that Suprema's 'SFCore' algorithm showed the lowest 0.258 percent false rate in the 'FMISO' benchmark, topping all previously published results.
The FMISO category examines matching performance of fingerprint algorithm in ISO19794-2 template, which is widely used as an essential requirement for interoperability of biometric systems. By the date, 213 algorithms have been evaluated by the FVC onGoing. "Our achievement in current FVC onGoing set another milestone re-establishing Suprema as a technological leader in biometric industry, for both commercial and government projects," said Brian Song, CTO at Suprema.
"With our previous successes in FVC 2004 and 2006, we have gained significant trust from the industry in terms of technological competency and credibility. In early 2011, we are going to apply this FVC-topping SFCore algorithm to our fingerprint-based products including embedded modules and access control systems."
The Liberal Democrats have expressed concern over the practice of schoolchildren having to use fingerprint recognition systems in Scottish schools.
Hundreds of children in 68 schools routinely use the biometric identification systems to gain access to school libraries or pay for dinners, according to a Freedom of Information statement request from the Scottish Lib Dems.
One school uses palmprint pads for access to toilet facilities. Lib Dem Justice spokesperson Robert Brown said, "If the vast majority of Scotland's schools can let children move round the premises and pay for their lunch without biometric identification, it is difficult to see how it is necessary for these 68 schools."
Specifications of the biometric systems in use have not been released but Brown is concerned that it may involve the storing of personal data. Brown said, "Public bodies have shown in the past that they are not always to be trusted with sensitive personal data."
Human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar told the Scotsman newspaper: “This is the introduction of Big Brother by the back door as, potentially, it could allow the state to justify widespread use. It almost normalises [biometrics use] and allowing its use in schools, where it doesn’t really harm anyone, allows them to say it’s in schools already and widen its introduction.”
The fear is that the normalising of ID systems in this way would reduce resistance to their introduction in other areas of life. The Lib Dems are concerned that this may lead to the acceptance of the national ID cards they have eliminated as part of the coalition government.
Brown concluded, ““Liberal Democrats in government have scrapped the invidious plans for ID cards. We really don’t want to see this coming in through the backdoor through Scottish classrooms.”
It’s been a week since the launch of the “Ready Lane” pilot program, an experiment to expedite traffic at the Ysleta-Zaragosa International Bridge.
The special lanes are for drivers whose travel documents come equipped with high-tech Radio Frequency Identification chips.
So far, border officials are pleased with the results. They say around 30 percent of the vehicles that cross the bridge every day now use the two reserved lanes.
“I do believe this is the way of the future,” said William Molaski, Customs and Border Protection port director in El Paso.
In a way, the “Ready Lane” program is an incentive for people to update their travel documents and comply with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, a federal mandate to strengthen border security and expedite international travel by standardizing authorized documents.
But as the U.S. government pushes for wider adoption of the new RFID-enabled documents, privacy advocates and computer security experts remain uneasy about the technology.
“The problem with RFID is that it can be queried surreptitiously without your consent. That’s the basic problem,” said Bruce Schneier, a computer security expert that has researched RFID vulnerabilities. “I think (RFID-equipped documents) are a bad idea, but nobody asked me.”
Early last year, renowned British hacker and computer security researcher Chris Paget proved how vulnerable the RFID-equipped documents can be.
Driving around the streets of San Francisco with a $250 RFID reader and an antenna, Paget was able to collect the details of two RFID-equipped U.S. passport cards in less than half an hour.
“I don’t believe that we should have any kind of identity documents with RFID tags in them. My ultimate goal here, my dream for this research, would be to see the entire the entire Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative just be scrapped,” Paget said in a online video documenting his experiment. “It really does facilitate very wide scale and very long range tracking of people.”
(This article is also a post in the ICAO e-Passports and NIST / PIV e-ID Cards Linkedin group, started by Georg Hasse. Please join this 1300+ group and give your comments).
An experimental tank design from BAE Systems -- inspired by the Batmobile -- has been applied to a real-world military vehicle. According to technology blog The Engineer, project leader Hisham Awad, who heads BAE System's future protected vehicles group, liked a fighting tank the Caped Crusader drives in the latest Batman movies so much that his group used it into one of its latest concepts.
"Yes, we liked the look of that, so we designed something similar," Awad told a group of journalists as he presented a series of seven new conceptual vehicles intended to boost the effectiveness of lightweight armored vehicles.
Another concept, eCamouflage, could allow a vehicle to match its surroundings by using electronic ink, rather like a squid. In addition, integrated biometrics could ease the workload on soldiers in complex crowd situation such as roadblocks and riots by running video surveillance through facial recognition and behavior modeling software to spot potential troublemakers.
Read an E-Ink case study on the many possibilities of E-ink here.
Some key subject areas for concern for 2011. Probably the most prominent has been the talk about the threat, prominence, and challenge posed by the evolving mobile device. Analysts agree that there will be an increase in targeting smartphones by cyber criminals; hackers are using mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets as a new attack platform, particularly as mobile applications become more prominent, they will become more susceptible to attack.
Nick Ogden, CEO and founder of Voice Commerce, said, "Biometric technology, such as voice verification is one solution that is set to meet these needs as one of the most advanced methods of identity verification and payment authorization. Using this technology, identity verifications can be delivered remotely as the authorization process is conducted over the mobile network, which means that a user can authenticate a transaction on the move and at their convenience.
Furthermore, the risk of fraud and phishing attacks is negated since card details don't need to be entered online when making a purchase and the transaction is split over two channels (online and mobile). As a result, biometric voice verification over mobile provides a very appealing solution to the industry and consumers as we enter 2011.
This Christmas will likely bring more mobile devices to users. Neil Fisher, VP of global security solutions at Unisys, claimed that this Christmas we will probably reach the tipping point in the acquisition of mobile devices in the UK and as a consequence, we will see increasing use of facial biometrics on mobile phones, aided by the integration of better resolution digital cameras.
He said: “Biometrics are effective in locking down a device, whilst enabling secure access via strong authentication. We are already seeing this technology on laptops; expect all kinds of biometrics to become pervasive in 2011.”
ScienceDaily (Dec. 31, 2010) — Scientists from Imperial College London are developing technology that could ultimately sequence a person's genome in mere minutes, at a fraction of the cost of current commercial techniques. The researchers have patented an early prototype technology that they believe could lead to an ultrafast commercial DNA sequencing tool within ten years. Their work is described in a study published this month in the journal Nano Letters.
The research suggests that scientists could eventually sequence an entire genome in a single lab procedure, whereas at present it can only be sequenced after being broken into pieces in a highly complex and time-consuming process. Fast and inexpensive genome sequencing could allow ordinary people to unlock the secrets of their own DNA, revealing their personal susceptibility to diseases such as Alzheimer's, diabetes and cancer. Medical professionals are already using genome sequencing to understand population-wide health issues and research ways to tailor individualised treatments or preventions.
This study could greatly decrease the time it takes to do DNA Analysis, especially, when it comes to genome sequencing.
It is highly anticipated that this prototype just developed, genome sequencing can occur in just a matter of minutes as opposed to the extremely laborious and time consuming process it currently takes up.
Also, the current procedures on genome sequencing requires the analysis to be conducted in several stages, whereas in this prototype, it is hoped that the process for genome sequencing can occur in just under one step. And plus, the cost could be greatly reduced with the results provided from this new prototype. For example, it is hoped that the cost will come down as much as to a few dollars, as opposed to one million dollars it cost to conduct genome sequencing analysis back in 2007.
In California at the March Air Reserve Base, Calif. instructors from Six3 Systems Inc. arrived to teach a battlefield forensics course to 4th Combat Camera Squadron Airmen.
Six3 Systems specializes in biometrics and identity intelligence. Department of Defense officials use the company's expertise to instruct service members on battlefield forensics.
On the battlefield, biometric evidence needs to be carefully collected to determine possible threats to coalition forces and to help identify insurgents. Physiological traits of biometrics include, but are not limited to iris detection, face recognition, fingerprints, DNA transcription, and hand geography. The instructors said biometric evidence is used to identify the makers of improvised explosive devices, which are the number-one threat to U.S. service members in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
"This course would help secure a seat for Combat camera (members) on a manifest if the battlefield commander was aware of the additional skills of their newly assigned (personnel)," said Tech. Sgt. Francisco Govea, a photographer with 4th Combat Camera who recently returned from Afghanistan. "Not only are they able to document the event in the usual way, but (they) also preserve a site for forensic evidence if the need should arise."
Six3 Systems officials sent 10 instructors. These unique teachers have extensive experience in forensic science, law enforcement, counterintelligence and military operations. "By the end of the course, students learned site exploitation techniques such as forensic photography, tactical questioning, field documentation, known print recovery, latent print development, material collection and also IED awareness," Mr. Herrick said.
Staff Sgt. Samara Scott, a 4th Combat Camera photographer, compared her experience to learning different pieces of a puzzle. "Each piece prepares you for the big, overall picture," she said.
Armed with their skills in the forensic field, the Six3 Systems team members covered the proper procedures for site exploitation and evidence collection. Team members would explain each procedure in depth, give the students time for practice in hands-on labs, and then use the procedures tactically in field-like scenarios. "Once we collect any biometric signature from the battlefield -- fingerprints, DNA, etc. -- it will be available to us and our allies forever," Mr. Herrick said.
Cognitec Systems, - a leader in face recognition technology and systems, is pleased to announce its selection by Razko Security as the face recognition provider for Canadian Tire locations. Specifically, Cognitec’s software is used to automatically scan live video from cameras installed at store entrances, detect faces and check for possible matches in a database of previously stored photos of shop-lifters. When a match is found, staff is automatically notified –in real time- allowing them to focus on the identified person and react to possible intruder threats.
Shortly after introducing the first systems, the facial recognition system has already flagged several suspects who returned to the stores after being issued future trespass status and alerted the staff accordingly. As Razko Security installs additional Cognitec solutions into more Canadian Tire locations and the watchlist database will grow, the capture rate is expected to increase considerably.
“An added value of the Cognitec FaceVACS-VideoScan system is in the peace of mind that the system provides, commented Ted Eliraz, President of Razko Security. With the real time screening solution in use, locations equipped with the Cognitec facial recognition system know that repeat offenders will be detected as soon as they reenter the facility. The system will flag them and alert the staff as to who and where they are, so that appropriate facility security action can be taken.”
Catalyst Technology Group offers a multi-layered security approach, including firewalls, VPN appliances, intrusion detection and prevention systems, anti-virus, anti-Spam, employee Internet management, server patch management, monitoring, and reporting. Catalyst is also the preferred BioPassword implementation partner. BioPassword offers the only multifactor authentication software that combines the user's login credentials with the behavioral biometric of keystroke dynamics (unique typing rhythm) to provide a low-cost accurate security solution that is specific to the user and requires no change in user behavior. "It's all about prevention and protection,"said Microsoft security expert Martin Biegelman in a Microsoft press release.
The EU abolished the visa regimes with Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro on December 19th 2009, facilitating travel from the Balkans to EU countries. But possessing a new biometric passport is one of the requirements of visa-free travel. In Serbia, citizens traded the long lines outside EU countries' embassies and loads of paperwork for crowded police stations where the new biometric passports are issued.
A representative from Serbia's interior ministry told SETimes that around 2.8 million biometric passports have been issued thus far.
"I made good use of the visa annulment and went on several short trips ... to the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Hungary. I'm also planning a brief winter vacation in Austria," Web administrator Tijana Dragas, 27, said.
Belgrade teacher Predrag Tomic, 52, told SETimes that many of his friends have traveled throughout Europe this year like never before. "But what good is the annulment of visas when I don't have enough money to travel anywhere?" Tomic said, summing up the predicament of a growing number of Serbs adversely affected by the economic crisis.
Anti-fraud activist Jim Woodhill, founder and former chairman of security vendor Authentify, Inc., plans to help banks and businesses conquer growing fraud. "The problem must be solved, and it must be solved quickly," says Woodhill, who recently met with U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer to discuss the problem and potential remedies -- including Schumer's bill to amend Regulation E to protect municipalities and school districts.
Woodhill left the Schumer meeting convinced that Congress wants to see the private sector propose potential solutions to this fraud challenge, and he's now working to deliver such a plan by the end of March. "I will be working on pulling together the necessary players to deliver [a plan] to Sen. Schumer's office," he says.
In an exclusive interview, Woodhill discusses:
- What banks and businesses learned about ACH fraud in 2010;
- An update on the lobbying effort for Congress to extend Reg E to protect corporate accounts;
- What needs to happen in 2010 to protect banks and businesses from ACH fraud and corporate account takeover.
The fifth annual National Security Innovation Competition (NSIC) is making a call for academic research papers and interested sponsors, according to organizers for the 2011 event. The Colorado Homeland Defense Alliance (CHDA) and the Colorado Springs Technology Incubator will host the competition on April 29, 2011 at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. topics can cover the full scope of national security.
Previous entrants have introduced innovations in biometrics, UAVs, cyber security, infrastructure security, border security and first responder support systems. Scholarship prizes are awarded to the top three finalists selected from a national level set of judges.
January 26, 2011 is the deadline for students to complete an application to compete. The application is simple to complete and is located at the CHDA website. Students that are interested in competing should consult the CHDA website at http://www.coloradohda.org
Despite heavy snowfalls in Paris, which blocked access to the exhibition center, CARTES & IDentification positioned itself more than ever as the sector's key global event.
The show confirmed its influence, with 432 exhibitors (427 in 2009), 79 percent of whom were international, 18,768 visitors, 72 percent of whom were international (68 percent in 2009) and 142 countries represented.
The IDentification area, hosted 62 companies, which demonstrated the enthusiasm of the identity protection area. Over the three days, it was a necessary place to visit and discover the latest innovative technology relating to biometrics, document and transaction security, authentication and physical and logical access control.
A demonstration zone dedicated to biometrics enabled the show's 19,000 visitors to gain hands-on experience of the latest authentication and identification methods.
Officially hosted by SIS/TK 448 (Swedish Institute of Standardization / Technical Committee 448), the SC-37 workgroup meeting is an annual event where over 100 delegates from national authorities, universities and corporate research centers across the world get together for five full days to establish new international standards for Biometrics in travel documents such as passports, visas and national ID cards.
ISO JTC-1, workgroup SC-37 will meet in Stockholm, January 10-14, 2011, to develop next-generation international standards for Biometrics in travel documents, with Speed Identity being the main financial sponsor.
Speed Identity and co-sponsors Primekey, Secunet and VFS Global facilitate the meeting through covering the costs for all meeting rooms, coffee, refreshments, lunches and an informal cocktail event. The previous meeting was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where local national authorities hosted and sponsored the meeting.
"Speed Identity operate in the forefront of Biometrics with a strong focus on e-Passports and Visas. We are closely associated with ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) who drive the demand for new standards, and it is important for us to support the work of SC-37.
Apart from this sponsoring, Speed Identity's Development Manager Stefan Lundgren is also one of the 100+ members of the work group." Says Magnus Svenningson, CEO, Speed Identity
