• Biometric access control secures U.K. construction sites

    Large, sprawling construction sites need to be secured; two U.K. companies join forces to offer an all-in-one biometric site access system for construction sites; the solution uses hand geometry or iris scanning technology to record access to a construction site

  • U.K. universities chafe under burden of monitoring foreign students, academics

    As of 31 March 2009, all U.K. universities have been required to monitor foreign students and academics; for instance, university staff must check international student attendance, and if a student fails to attend 10 “expected interactions” (seminars, lectures, tutor meetings, etc.), the professor is obliged to report them to the U.K. Border Agency; professor say this is too much

  • New facial authentication system installed at Israel Discount Bank

    A bank installs an advanced facial recognition system to verify the identity of employees and customers who want to go into the vault; the system can identify people in difficult conditions such as dim light; changes, such as sunglasses, beards, moustaches, different hairdos, or a hat do not affect its ability

  • TSA's proposal for tougher general-aviation security to be scaled back

    TSA wanted to apply tougher security rules to the 15,000 or so private planes — aka “general aviation” — but operators and owners of such planes, and also DHS IG, said the risk such planes posed to U.S. security was not great; TSA is now planning to scale down general aviation security measures

  • E-Verify urged for Baltimore County

    Federal program aims to keep illegal immigrants off job sites; a coalition of labor unions wants Baltimore County Council members to adopt a new requirement that contractors working for the county verify the immigration status of their employees or risk losing county business; the hourly pay rate of members of the Ironworkers Union – a pay which includes health and retirement benefits — is about $40; workers in the United States illegally often get $12 an hour with no benefits

  • Polish priest installs fingerprint reader to check for mass attendance

    A Polish priest installs a biometric fingerprint reader at his church to monitor schoolchildren’s attendance at mass; the pupils will mark their fingerprints every time they go to church over three years, and if they attend 200 masses they will be freed from the obligation of having to pass an exam prior to their confirmation

  • Japanese biometric border fooled by tape

    Two South Korean women have managed to fool Japan’s expensive biometric border-control system by using special tapes on their fingers; the invisible tape carries the finger prints of another person, and the South Korean broker who supplied the tape also provided false passports to go with it; this is the third known case of South Korean women using the fingerprint-altering tape to enter Japan; in all three cases, the women managed to fool the biometric screening, but were later caught because they over-stayed their visas

  • E-passports vulnerable to traceability attacks, allowing real-time tracking of passport holders

    The electronic passports issued by the United States, the United Kingdom, and some fifty other countries are vulnerable to “traceability attacks”: hackers can remotely track an e-passport holder in real time without first knowing the cryptographic keys that protect the personal information embedded in the e-passport

  • L-1 Identity Solutions’ Daugman-based iris algorithm passes test

    Rigorous tests by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) find that the accuracy of L-1’s iris recognition technology as markedly higher than prior results, and that improvements came without sacrificing speed; the evaluation also showed that L-1’s accuracy did not come at the expense of template size

  • Potential security breach in German airports workers' IDs

    A German TV news program and members of a computer club demonstrated how they managed remotely to access data stored on key cards used by airport employees; terrorists could use such a breach to gain admittance to restricted areas of the airport

  • Applying FIPS 201 to aviation security and counter-terrorism information sharing

    Would implementation of PIV based access control help improve the performance of the intelligence community? One expert wonders whether the fundamental ability of PIV and PIV-I to improve creation, distribution, and access to information is fully appreciated by the U.S. intelligence community and DHS

  • U.K. ID card scheme for foreigners extended

    On Tuesday the U.K. government announced that from now on, Tier 2 foreign nationals will have to apply for a card if they wish to extend their stay in the United Kingdom; Tier 2 includes skilled workers, ministers of religion, sportsmen and women, representatives of overseas businesses, and dependants

  • U.K. home secretary reveals ID register linked to NI numbers

    The U.K. National Identity Register contains National Insurance numbers and answers to “shared secrets”; the secretary claimed the NI numbers have been included to “aid identity verification checks for identity cards and, in time, passports”

  • 2010: Topics for homeland security discussion

    The only thing we can say for sure about 2010 is terrorists, criminals, and mother nature will surprise us at some point during 2010; still, based on what we do know, we offer a short list of topics we predict will dominate the homeland security discussion in the coming year – from whole-body scanners to 100 percent air cargo screening to social Web sites to communication interoperability to the consequences of climate change (or is there a climate change?)

  • Canada’s remote border crossing programs pose “security concerns” evaluation says

    Canada has a long borders, and before 9/11 the Canadian federal government made it easier for travelers to cross into Canada at remote border crossing where security is not as tight as it is in major cross points; a new study says this system must change because it is not secure enough