Entries Tagged "biometrics"

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Fingerprint Scanner that Works at a Distance

Scanning fingerprints from six feet away.

Slightly smaller than a square tissue box, AIRprint houses two 1.3 megapixel cameras and a source of polarized light. One camera receives horizontally polarized light, while the other receives vertically polarized light. When light hits a finger, the ridges of the fingerprint reflect one polarization of light, while the valleys reflect another. “That’s where the real kicker is, because if you look at an image without any polarization, you can kind of see fingerprints, but not really well,” says Burcham. By separating the vertical and the horizontal polarization, the device can overlap those images to produce an accurate fingerprint, which is fed to a computer for verification.

No information on how accurate it is, but it’ll only get better.

Posted on May 17, 2011 at 7:46 AM • View Comments

Extreme Authentication

Exactly how did they confirm it was Bin Laden’s body?

Officials compared the DNA of the person killed at the Abbottabad compound with the bin Laden “family DNA” to determine that the 9/11 mastermind had in fact been killed, a senior administration official said.

It was not clear how many different family members’ samples were compared or whose DNA was used.

[…]

Also to identify bin Laden, a visual ID was made. There were photo comparisons and other facial recognition used to identify him, the official said. A second official said that in addition to DNA, there was full biometric analysis of facial and body features.

EDITED TO ADD (5/5): A better article.

Posted on May 5, 2011 at 12:52 PM • View Comments

Decline in Cursive Writing Leads to Increase in Forgery Risk?

According to this article, students are no longer learning how to write in cursive. And, if they are learning it, they’re forgetting how. Certainly the ubiquity of keyboards is leading to a decrease in writing by hand. Relevant to this blog, the article claims that this is making signatures easier to forge.

While printing might be legible, the less complex the handwriting, the easier it is to forge, said Heidi H. Harralson, a graphologist in Tucson. Even though handwriting can change—and become sloppier—as a person ages, people who are not learning or practicing it are at a disadvantage, Ms. Harralson said.

“I’m seeing an increase in inconstancy in the handwriting and poor form level—sloppy, semi-legible script that’s inconsistent,” she said.

Most everyone has a cursive signature, but even those are getting harder to identify, Ms. Harralson said.

“Even people that didn’t learn cursive, they usually have some type of cursive form signature, but it’s not written very well,” she said. “It tends to be more abstract, illegible and simplistic. If they’re writing with block letters it’s easier to forge.”

Maybe, but I’m skeptical. Everyone has a scrawl of some sort; mine has been completely illegible for years. But I don’t see document forgery as a big risk; far bigger is the automatic authentication systems that don’t have anything to do with traditional forgery.

Posted on May 3, 2011 at 2:25 PM • View Comments

Using Language Patterns to Identify Anonymous E-Mail

Interesting research. It only works when there’s a limited number of potential authors:

To test the accuracy of their technique, Fung and his colleagues examined the Enron Email Dataset, a collection which contains over 200,000 real-life emails from 158 employees of the Enron Corporation. Using a sample of 10 emails written by each of 10 subjects (100 emails in all), they were able to identify authorship with an accuracy of 80% to 90%.

Posted on March 14, 2011 at 5:04 AM • View Comments

Biometric Wallet

Not an electronic wallet, a physical one:

Virtually indestructible, the dunhill Biometric Wallet will open only with touch of your fingerprint.

It can be linked via Bluetooth to the owner’s mobile phone ­ sounding an alarm if the two are separated by more than 5 metres! This provides a brilliant warning if either the phone or wallet is stolen or misplaced. The exterior of the wallet is constructed from highly durable carbon fibre that will resist all but the most concerted effort to open it, while the interior features a luxurious leather credit card holder and a strong stainless steel money clip.

Only $825. News article.

I don’t think I understand the threat model. If your wallet is stolen, you’re going to replace all your ID cards and credit cards and you’re not going to get your cash back—whether it’s a normal wallet or this wallet. I suppose this wallet makes it less likely that someone will use your stolen credit cards quickly, before you cancel them. But you’re not going to be liable for that delay in any case.

Posted on February 18, 2011 at 1:45 PM • View Comments

New Biometric

Eye movements instead of eye structures.

The new system tracks the way a person’s eye moves as he watches an icon roam around a computer screen. The way the icon moves can be different every time, but the user’s eye movements include “kinetic features”—slight variations in trajectory—that are unique, making it possible to identify him.

Posted on November 17, 2010 at 7:13 AM • View Comments

Skeletal Identification

And you thought fingerprints were intrusive.

The Wright State Research Institute is developing a ground-breaking system that would scan the skeletal structures of people at airports, sports stadiums, theme parks and other public places that could be vulnerable to terrorist attacks, child abductions or other crimes. The images would then quickly be matched with potential suspects using a database of previously scanned skeletons.

Because every country has a database of terrorist skeletons just waiting to be used.

Posted on August 24, 2010 at 6:56 AM • View Comments

Biometric Wallet

Cool idea, or dumb idea?

Its features include:

  • Fingerprint access only
  • Bluetooth enabled for notification alerts—automated notification via bluetooth if your wallet strays more than 10 feet from your body
  • Protected against RFID electronic theft—the case shields all contents from RFID scanners

Posted on May 11, 2010 at 12:27 PM • View Comments

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Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.