Biometrics

Showcasing Israeli homeland security technology
Next week’s Homeland Security International Conference in Tel Aviv will showcase Israel’s homeland security technology; Israel is already the world’s third-largest exporter of defense technology; in homeland security technology, it is among the Top 10 exporting countries; Brazil, India, Mexico, and Thailand, among others, are markets opening up for Israeli homeland security products
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Fees for federal immigration docs to increases
On 23 November the prices of most federal immigration documents, including green card replacements, are scheduled to increase; someone seeking to replace a green card, for example, will pay $450 under the new fee schedule, instead of $370
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Sector Report for Tuesday, 26 October 2010: Authentication / Biometrics
This report contains the following stories.
* Avoiding fraud in biometric identification

* Biometric-driven airport gates gain ground

* SAIC in $23 million contract for biometric help to U.S. Central Command

* Biometrics to help India keep rural job program honest
Plus 1 additional story.
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New U.S. naturalization documents more secure
The new computerized naturalization certificates will have all that information embedded in the document and also will have ink patterns that are harder to duplicate; the new green cards have more security features, including a personalized holographic image, a laser-engraved fingerprint of the person, and improved identification technology
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Avoiding fraud in biometric identification
The field of biometric anti-spoofing consists of trying to detect all of the possible attempts at fraud that a biometric system might suffer, especially with regard to an action in which the user presents the biometric proof to the system; Spanish researchers analyze possible attempts at fraud in various biometric identification systems in order to improve the security of facial, iris, fingerprint, or vascular recognition, among other types
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Biometric-driven airport gates gain ground
Biometrics-driven border controls in the United Kingdom are now well advanced, with a trial at London Stansted so successful, that the technology is now being rolled out at Heathrow Airport; still, biometric-driven airport gate technology is still in its infancy, with only around 1,000 gates in active use worldwide
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SAIC in $23 million contract for biometric help to U.S. Central Command
Collecting and registering personnel into biometric databases is key to helping identify insurgents throughout the U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility; SAIC awarded a $23 million contract to help
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Biometrics to help India keep rural job program honest
The Indian government launched a rural job program in 2006, aimed at bringing jobs to the poorest of the poor in India; the scheme assures 100 days of manual work annually to at least one member of every rural household; the program is now benefiting 35.2 million households across 619 districts; critics say that the well-intentioned program has been accompanied by fraud, bogus job cards, and ghost workers; the Indian government is now working to correct these through biometrics
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Kiwi immigration authorities testing facial recognition system
New Zealand’s immigration authorities are testing facial recognition system from Daon to verify the identity of people coming through New Zealand customs; a decision about whether or not to adopt the system will be taken after a 12-month trial period
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Sector Report for Tuesday, 12 October 2010: Authentication / Biometrics
This report contains the following stories.
* IBIA challenges NRC's state of biometrics report

* Multiple-biometric IDs to become a reality in India

* Cogent, 3M clears legal hurdle
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IBIA challenges NRC's state of biometrics report
The International Biometrics & Identification Association (IBIA) says that the NRC report — especially the press release which accompanied it and which was titled “Automated Biometric Recognition Technologies Inherently Fallible” — created the inaccurate impression that biometric technologies were not yet ready for “prime time”; IBIA believes that for many useful applications, biometric technology is appropriate, effective, accurate, and reliable and is being widely deployed today
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Multiple-biometric IDs to become a reality in India
India’s government now issues multiple special-purpose IDs, including a Permanent Account Number for income tax transactions, an Electors Photo Identity Card for voting, ration cards, health care cards, driver’s licenses, and passports; India’s Aadhaar program, referred to as the UID, will eventually replace all of those. The UID system will process hundreds of thousands of identity validation requests each second, against the world’s largest database of individuals
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Cogent, 3M clears legal hurdle
3M Co. has cleared a major hurdle in its $943 million bid to acquire Pasadena, California-based biometrics firm Cogent, Inc.; a Delaware Chancery Court denied a Cogent shareholder’s motion to block the proposed acquisition of Cogent by 3M, citing the plaintiff’s inability to show reasonable probability of success on the merits of any of the claims
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Malware will soon steal behavioral patterns
Examples of malware which steals personal information are all around us, sometimes for the purpose of making it public and at other times for profit; computer scientists predict that a new generation of malware will mine social networks for people’s private patterns of behavior
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California launches forgery-proof driver's license
California’s Department of Motor Vehicles has begun issuing a redesigned security-enhanced drivers license which is loaded with features to thwart would-be forgers and identity thieves; this is the first major revision to the card since 2001
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