• Using behavioral biometrics for online IDs

    The federal Education Act of 2008 is driving schools to crack down on ID authenticity; it says that universities offering online programs need to put strict measures in place to make sure the students registered for those courses—and possibly receiving federal financial aid—are the same students getting credit for them

  • TIE Technologies unveils BIO Metric and intelligent video technology development project

    Edward Andercheck, chairman and CEO of TIE Technologies: “Today’s science has made it possible to identify and authenticate the ‘one of a kind’ unique BIO Signature generated by individuals entering or leaving designated areas, thereby enabling the protection of buildings and weapon systems, and empowering security in large cities everywhere.”

  • Zvetco secures electronic death certificate issuance

    More and more things are done on line — including issuing death certificates; there is thus a need to make sure that those who issue death certificates electronically are authorized to do so and that are who they say they are

  • Passwords may be passé, but biometrics is not yet viable for portable devices

    Passwords may be heading toward extinction, but biometric identification is not yet a viable means of authentication for mobile devices; smart phones and other portable devices do not currently have the sophistication to be adapted easily for biometric technology, and users are likely to be reluctant to carry yet another device and its electrical charger along with their smart phone simply to login to their bank account when not at their desktop computer

  • Critics: A U.S. national work ID would not solve the illegal immigration problem

    Senators Charles Schumer and Lindsey Graham have proposed a mandatory Work ID for all working Americans; the bill they are proposing would require “all U.S. citizens and legal immigrants who want jobs to obtain a high-tech, fraud-proof Social Security card.”; critics say the scheme is too expensive and will be ineffective in curbing illegal immigration

  • Bulgaria's biometric passport scheme

    The introduction of ID documents with biometric data was a requirement for Bulgaria to join the European Union (EU) and was originally scheduled to come into effect before EU accession in January 2007, but was later rescheduled, with a final deadline in mid-2009; the implementation of the e-passports plan has not been a picture of efficiency and good management

  • Australia's Biometrics Institute launches privacy awareness checklist

    Australia’s Biometric Institute will release its Biometrics Institute Privacy Awareness Checklist (PAC) to its member organizations to promote good privacy practices; the Biometrics Institute Privacy Code already is at a higher level than the Australian Privacy Act 1988

  • Safer e-cards for passports, e-IDs, and electronic voting

    Researchers find serious security drawbacks in chips that are being embedded in e-passports and other e-IDs, and in credit, debit, and “smart” cards; the vulnerabilities of this electronic approach — and the vulnerability of the private information contained in the chips — are becoming more acute; using simple devices constructed from $20 disposable cameras and copper cooking-gas pipes, the researchers demonstrated how easily the cards’ radio frequency (RF) signals can be disrupted; the method can also be used to corrupt the results of electronic voting machines

  • More counties join Secure Communities

    Across the United States, 135 jurisdictions in 17 states have joined DHS’s (and DOJ’s) Secure Communities project; Secure Communities offers local jurisdiction an information-sharing capability: if an individual is arrested, his or her fingerprint information will now be simultaneously checked against both FBI criminal history records and the biometrics-based immigration records maintained by DHS, meaning that both criminal and immigration records of all local arrestees will be checked

  • A new U.S. biometrics agency created to manage DoD-wide responsibilities

    The role of biometric information in U.S. national security is increasing, and the U.S. government creates the Biometrics Identity Management Agency (BIMA); BIMA, a component of the U.S. Army, will lead Department of Defense activities “to prioritize, integrate, and synchronize biometrics technologies and capabilities and to manage the Department of Defense’s authoritative biometrics database to support the National Security Strategy”; DoD says: “Biometrics is an important enabler that shall be fully integrated into the conduct of DoD activities to support the full range of military operations”

  • One frequent flyer finds himself on TSA's selectee list

    Ray Davis from Mansfield, Michigan — he describes himself as “just a Mansfield nobody” — was placed on TSA’s selectee list for no reason he can fathom; the list contains some 18,000 people deemed suspect by TSA, but not suspect enough to stay permanently grounded; the selectees are subjected to third and fourth once-overs of passports, hand inspection of luggage, and the like

  • Florida's new fingerprint technology helps law enforcement

    Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrests 3,000 people every day; checking their fingerprints against Florida’s bank of 16.5 million prints on file was becoming a problem; a new FALCON fingerprinting system, installed at a cost of $7.4 million and in use since last June, has solved these problems

  • New Hampshire legislature overwhelmingly defeats biometrics restrictions bill

    The New Hampshire legislation considered a bill which would have banned the use of biometrics in identification cards issued by the state and private entities, except in the case of employee identification cards; the bill also would have barred a state or private group from requiring individuals to submit biometric information as a condition for doing business; the bill was overwhelmingly defeated in a vote last Thursday

  • How accurate is E-Verify? Cont.

    A top DHS official says that E-Verify, the program set by DHA to allow employers to verify the legal status of employees and job applicants, is accurate and reliable; she writes that the famous Westat study “concluded that E-Verify was accurate 96 percent of the time” and that, “Since then, the Obama administration has taken steps further to improve E-Verify”

  • New biometric identifier: hand bacteria

    Each individual has a “personal” bacteria communities living on the fingers and palms of individual computer users; members of these communities are deposited on keyboards, mice and other things we touch; the link between the bacterial communities and the bacterial DNA signatures of individuals may soon become a tool in forensic identification