• NYU hospital unveils new biometric palm readers for patients

    The NYU Langone Medical Center recently unveiled its new biometric palm readers to verify patients; using technology called PatientSecure, a biometric reader will scan a patient’s palm using an infrared light to create a unique map of their veins; this information is then stored in a database and linked to their electronic health record system ensuring accuracy and virtually eliminating the need for paperwork

  • Popeye's gets serious about fraud, implements biometric system

    Today, Sailormen, Inc., the largest Popeye’s franchise with 148 locations across seven states including Florida, Missouri, and Alabama, announced that it is deploying biometrics at their restaurants to improve employee accountability, increase sales, and reduce fraud; the Popeye’s franchise will use DigitalPersona’s U.are.U fingerprint readers to verify manager overrides and to track an employee’s hours

  • Philippines mandate biometric registration for voters

    Lawmakers in the Philippines recently passed a law that would require all voters to register their biometric data before they are eligible to participate in national elections; voters who fail to register before the filing deadline will be stricken from the voter rolls, but will have the opportunity to reactivate their status once they register

  • Brazilian bank explores online biometric ID

    Bradesco, one of Brazil’s largest banking and insurance companies, is studying if it can identify account holders online using biometrics to ensure the safest transactions possible; the bank is currently working with Fujitsu to develop a device that is capable of identifying customers at home; the bank currently uses Fujitsu’s PalmSecure biometric palm reader in its ATMs

  • Malaysia's biometric failure

    A malfunction in Malaysia’s biometric fingerprint system at its international railway station could have major implications as other countries expand the use of biometrics at ports of entry; last Saturday travelers were infuriated after they were forced to wait nearly an hour and a half to pass through Malaysia’s immigration checkpoints; many tourists had to change or cancel their holiday travel plans all together; the delays came at the height of Malaysia’s tourist season, resulting in sharp criticism from the tourist industry

  • Biometric CCTV market to hit $3.2 billion in 2016

    Analysts project that the biometric CCTV market will be a $3.2 billion industry by 2016, with an annual growth rate of 33 percent; the security camera industry has already seen rapid growth as the private and public sector have installed surveillance systems to help combat crime and provide real-time information; over the next decade, analysts from the Homeland Security Research Corporation (HSRC) project that the next trend in this field will be the increasing integration of biometric technology into surveillance cameras; HSRC’s report projects that these technological developments will help drive the CCTV market and create significant growth opportunities for the security camera industry, biometric and IT systems manufacturers, and security systems integrators

  • Researchers unveil biometric walk scanner

    Researchers from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom recently unveiled new biometric technology that is capable of identifying individuals by the way they walk; a professor in computer vision at the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, and two PhD students have developed a system that can recognize a person by their gait with over 90 percent accuracy; individuals walking through a “biometric tunnel” were recorded on twelve cameras to create a unique signature that can be used to identify them later; researchers tried to fool the system by wearing different clothes, obscuring their faces with hats and motorcycle helmets, but the biometric system prevailed

  • Gait biometrics still walking the walk

    Research on gait biometrics at the University of Southampton, a pioneer in researching this biometric technology, has passed another landmark with the first public demonstration of the technology’s ability to withstand deliberate spooking; the technology is being perfected at the university’s Biometric Tunnel, in which data from twelve cameras is combined and processes to produce an individual “signature” of a person’s walk that is unique and recognizable with over 90 percent accuracy

  • Northrop wins $141 million follow-on contract for DOD biometric system

    Today, defense giant Northrop Grumman announced that it was awarded a $141 million follow-on task order to continue working with the Department of Defense (DOD) on its biometric identification system for military threats; under the contract, Northrop will continue work on the DOD’s Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), which functions as the centralized database that collects facial, fingerprint, iris, and palm biometric records on individuals that the Department of Defense has identified as persons of interest

  • Portable iPod Touch fingerprint scanner launched

    IPod Touch users can now turn their devices into a portable fingerprint scanner; last week, Fulcrum Biometrics unveiled its new FbF mobileOne biometric fingerprint reader and software for the iPod touch; using the Touch’s standard dock connector, the mobileOne device can scan and match fingerprints on the iPod or send it wirelessly to a remote server for authentication

  • States turning to new "familial DNA" tests, practice faces legal hurdles

    Law enforcement officials in several states across the United States are hoping to obtain the legal authority to begin conducting “familial DNA” testing, a process which could greatly increase the number of suspects identified in violent crimes; while DNA is often found at crime scenes using familial DNA would allow law enforcement officials to use DNA from a suspected criminal’s relatives to positively identify them; currently only California and Texas have laws in place that allow investigators to conduct familial DNA tests; Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Florida could soon join their ranks; the practice is still quite new and faces legal challenges and must be approved by a state’s courts

  • New Jersey launches sophisticated new driver's license

    In compliance with Secure ID, the federal law that mandates that states create more stringent identification cards, New Jersey has unveiled a sophisticated new driver’s license; according to New Jersey officials, the new Enhanced Digital Driver’s License puts New Jersey among the ten states with the most secure identity cards; to prevent counterfeiting, security features include an embedded pattern on the license, one and two dimensional bar codes, and “purposeful errors” like misspellings; to implement these new licenses, the state’s MVCs have had to undergo a $19 million upgrade to install new computer systems, hardware, and software

  • Arizona police deploy iris scanners and facial biometrics to identify inmates

    Local police departments in Arizona have begun using facial biometrics and iris scanning technology to identify inmates and registered sex offenders; officers with the Pinal County Sheriff’s department have entered roughly 1,500 inmates and 700 sex offenders into a national database to better identify, register, and track inmates; the scans come as part of a broader effort led by the National Sheriff’s Association (NSA) and the U.S. Justice Department; beginning in 2009, the Justice Department awarded $500,000 to help roughly forty-five law enforcement agencies throughout the United States to purchase iris scanners from BI2 Technologies