Access control

Unisys: Technology "consumerization," mobility risks key drivers of security investments
A Unisys briefing says that the growing pervasiveness of technology consumerization and mobility opens businesses to new risks across a broader spectrum; economy compels greater need for collaboration, more intelligent systems, and better fraud prevention; biometric use and acceptance also to increase
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Researchers spoof, bypass face-recognition authentication systems
Vietnamese researchers have cracked facial recognition technology in Lenovo, Asus, and Toshiba laptops; the researchers demonstrated feat at this week’s Black Hat DC event
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U.K. pilots oppose government's ID card plan
Lawyers for U.K. pilots’ association said they are examining whether there are legal grounds to challenge Home Office plans to force pilots to take up the cards from Autumn this year
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Carnegie Mellon to join new biometrics center
Aim of the new center — called Center for Academic Studies In Identity Sciences (CASIS) — is to provide the U.S. intelligence community with a pool of talented researchers in biometrics
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State Department employees use biometric card for computer access
45,000 State Department employees now use biometric smart cards to log on to the department’s unclassified network; the department hopes that, soon, a similar log on procedure will be used for the classified network as well
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Gingrich says biometric ID part of a solution to the Medicare problem
States ask Congress for $100 billion to help them cope with Medicare costs; Gingrich says that each state must include at least four elements in its plan to address the Medicare crisis before it will be entitled to federal funds; one of these elements are biometric IDs for Medicare recipients
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Nationals of five countries added to U.K.'s biometric visa requirement
The U.K. has added South Africa, Bolivia, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Venezuela to the list of countries the nationals of which need biometric visa to enter the United Kingdom; these five countries failed a test of the threat posed by their citizens in terms of security, immigration and crime; the list already covers three quarters of the world’s population
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Biometric system on trial for airport security
Unisys to install iris recognition devices at Australian airports; authorities want to speed up security checks of passengers
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Beyond fingerprints: The FBI's next generation database
New, mammoth database will include not only enhanced fingerprint capabilities, but also other forms of biometric identification like palm prints, iris scans, facial imaging, scars, marks, and tattoos — in one searchable system
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India to see a large, broad growth in expenditures on domestic security
A series of terrorist attacks, culminating in the coordinated attack in Mumbai last month, convinced both government and industry in India that more security — much more security — is required to cope with mounting threats to domestic peace; business opportunities abound for companies in IT security, biometric, surveillance, detection, situational awareness, and more
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Security specialist Core Systems sees U.S. prisons as opportunity
Belfast-based Core Systems provides biometric equipment to prisons in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland; it is now expanding to the United States; with a prison population of 2.2 million; “In the prisons business, the United States is the market leader,” says Patricia O’Hagan, company’s co-owner
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South Korean woman fools Japanese finger printing system
Japan spent more than $44 million dollars to install the biometric system at 30 airports; a deported South Korean woman was able to re-enter Japan by using fingerprint-altering special tape
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DHS expands biometric info collection to include green card holders
DHS will begin to collect biometric data from permanent residents of the United States and from refugees; new rule, to go into effect on 18 January 2009, will include “nearly all aliens,” except Canadian citizens on brief visits
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GAO: DHS's plans for tracking foreigners leaving U.S. needs work
GAO says that DHS has not developed accurate cost estimates for the proposed tracking of travelers leaving the U.S. and has failed to include how much the system would cost airlines and cruise lines to build
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Making facial recognition technology more effective
Facial recognition technology holds the promise of identifying individuals in a crowd — and from distance; in real-world environments, however, the task becomes difficult, if not impossible, when the systems acquire poor facial images; NIST researchers offer a solution
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