[ISN] Okay, Let's See Some ID (biometrics)

From: cult hero (jerichoat_private)
Date: Sat Apr 24 1999 - 19:31:33 PDT

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    Forwarded From: Sysadminat_private
    
    Okay, Let's See Some ID
    by Jeffery Zbar
    
    As corporations dispatch legions of teleworkers to remote sites and home
    offices, how can they ensure that a user logging on to the company network
    isn't an imposter who's cracked the teleworker's password?  Increasingly,
    the answer is with biometrics - a security scheme that verifies a user's
    identity based on a physical characteristic such as a fingerprint or a
    signature. 
    
    Biometric scanners don't actually store any personal information. 
    Instead, they collect and check algorithmic characteristics unique to you,
    whether the look of your face or the rhythm of your typing.  Although the
    government and financial institutions have used biometrics since the
    1970s, the corporate sector is catching up - particularly with
    telecommuters being "pushed to [adopt] security technology to ensure
    they're not hacked through the back door," says Erik Bowman, and analyst
    with Bethesda, Md.-based CardTech/SecurTech (www.stst.com), publisher of
    ID Word, a trade publication. 
    
    A new generation of low-cost, plug-and-play products is helping make
    biometrics one of the top 10 technologies to watch in 1999, according to a
    Gartner Group report, with some analysts predicting widescale deployment
    as early as 2001. A spokesperson for the fingerprint scanner vendor
    Identicator Technology predicts this year "we'll see this technology
    securing laptops, PDAs, and cell phones.  It's just a matter of time
    before we will open our cars and homes with biometrics." 
    
    We found 14 companies at work developing a wide array of desktop biometric
    products (prices range from $50 to $400). Most scan fingerprints, but
    here's a quick rundown, including devices that pinpoint other distinctive
    features. 
    
    Eyes
    
    IriScan (iriscan.com): PC Iris, a handheld scanner that identifies the
    pattern in the eye's iris; available this spring.
    
    
    Fingerprints
    
    Advanced Precision Technology Inc. (www.aprint.com):
    a smart card that stores a hologram image of a fingerprint scan;
    
    American Biometric Co. (www.abio.com):
    BioMouse Plus, an optical fingerprint imager;
    
    Biometric Access Corp. (www.biometricaccess.com):
    Secure Touch 98, an optical fingerprint imager;
    
    Biometric Identification Inc. (www.biometricid.com):
    a full line of VeriPrint fingerprint imagers (starting
    at $700);
    
    Digital Persona (www.dpersona.com):
    U.are.U fingerprint scanner and software packages;
    
    Identicator (www.identicator.com):
    Fingerprint Identification Technology-based
    optical fingerprint scanners, available through
    Compaq;
    
    Veridicom (www.veridicom.com):
    the FPS100, a finger-imaging sensor the size of a postage stamp.
    
    
    Faces
    
    Biometric Access Corp.:
    One-One-One Facial generates a digital "facial signature"
    matched against a stored signature;
    
    Miros (www.miros.com):
    TrueFace facial verification software works with popular
    videoconferencing cameras;
    
    Visionics (www.faceit.com):
    FaceIt facial verification software, also for popular
    videoconferencing cameras.
    
    
    Keystrokes
    
    Net Nanny BioPassword (www.netnanny.com):
    monitors your PC keyboard to measure the precise timing
    and fluctuations between keystrokes while typing a
    password phrase.
    
    
    Signatures
    
    Cyber-Sign (www.cybersign.com):
    software that recognizes swirls and other characteristics
    in a handwritten signature.
    
    
    Voices
    
    Keyware Technologies (www.keywareusa.com):
    partering with ST Microelectronics on a voice
    verification system that tracks a spoken word code;
    due in July.
    
    
    -o-
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