http://www.networkcomputing.com/channels/security/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199904746
By Tom LaSusa
June 15, 2007
In the James Bond movie "Die Another Day," 007 and his gal pal use a bad
guy's severed hand to trick a biometric scanner into unlocking a room.
Although it's true Hollywood takes certain liberties with how technology
is perceived on film (do giant envelopes appear on your computer screen
when you get e-mail?), the truth is that it's not unheard of for
criminals to sever someone's fingers to attempt to bypass biometric
security safeguards. Fortunately, Sony has been working on some
advancements that will have biometric users clapping (with all digits
intact).
New Scientist [1] reports that Sony has developed a system that uses
infrared light to see through the skin and scan a user's unique patterns
of capillaries. If a criminal attempts to use a severed finger on a
scanner, it won't work because blood is no longer pumping through it.
Of course that's little comfort for the person who now has trouble
whistling for a cab in the middle of rush hour. But imagine all the
laughs they could have when they ask someone to pull their finger.
[1] http://www.newscientist.com/blog/invention/2007/06/digit-saving-biometrics.html
Received on Mon Jun 18 01:04:15 2007