Biometric technologies

PerSay in strategic partnership with INS Indriya in Singapore
A leading voice recognition biometrics partners with a Singaporean technology consulting firm; voice recognition is slowly spreading in both e-commerce and in intelligence and law enforcement
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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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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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L-1 Identity Solutions reports Q4 and 2008 results
Revenue for the Q4 2008 increased to $147.5 million compared to $113.9 million in Q4 2007; revenue for the twelve months ending 31 December 2008 was $562.9 million compared with $389.5 million for the twelve months ending 31 December 2007
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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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Face recognition biometrics wedded to cell phones
Face and iris recognition biometrics are good technologies, but people have to play along: They have to place their faces near the glass, look straight into the camera, make sure the light is just right; the U.S. intelligence community’s researchers want to solve this problem
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New York State looking for new finger-imaging system
New York State issued an RFP for finger-imaging system which would allow government agencies ti identify and verify the identity of recipients of government services;
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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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Warwick Warp uses government funds to develop better fingerprint technology
Coventry, U.K.-based company uses research funding from regional authorities to develop software which significantly improves matching accuracy by being able to handle low-quality prints and a variety of spatial distortions
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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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Pentagon maintains a DNA database with 80,000 DNA profiles
The Pentagon has built a DNA database with about 80,000 DNA profiles of suspected terrorists; database has grown dramatically in the last two years (it had only 15,000 profiles in 2006)
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U.K. can lead the world on biometrics
New study argues that the U.K. biometrics industry can lead the world if it were less fragmented and had an independent voice
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Unisys study shows U.S. public trusts biometrics for data protection
Privacy advocates may be worried about the proliferation of biometrics for identification purposes, but a recent Unisys survey shows that Americans are comfortable with the idea of banks and government agencies asking them for biometric data for identity verification
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