Forwarded From: Sysadmin@kktv.com
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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Received on Mon Apr 26 08:49:46 1999