• Indian high-tech companies tighten security procedures

    Indian high-tech and software companies, with their constant need for new employees, are easy targets for terrorist infiltration; these companies now take much tougher approach to vetting — and continuously checking — employees

  • Florida airports will require 10 fingerprints from foreign visitors

    To beef up efforts to catch terrorists and criminals, DHS starts new program in Florida airports — program which requires all foreign visitors to have all ten fingers electronically printed

  • Lockheed Martin wins FBI database contract

    Lockheed Martin built and maintains the FBI’s current ten-fingerprint database, so it was expected to win the contract for the agency’s new database — and it did; contract potential value is $1 billion

  • Nursery installs fingerprint scanner at door

    Fingerprinting students in school is controversial, and many parents object to it; less controversial is installing fingerprint scanners at nurseries’ doors, to make sure that only parents and authorized personnel are allowed in

  • EU moves toward biometric border checks

    There are 300 million crossings per year at EU member states’ border crossings — 160 million crossings by EU citizens, 60 million by non-EU without visa, 80 million by non-EU with visa; EU wants to introduce biometric IDs to know who is coming in

  • Reconstructing 3D face from a single 2D image

    Researchers develop software to make the 3D reconstruction of a face from a single 2D image faster and more accurate; this will be especially useful for recovering 3D shapes when there is only one image to work from, such as an image from a CCTV camera

  • Digitus Biometrics shows networked access control solution

    Georgia-based biometric specialist shows a networked version of its stand-alone fingerprint access control system; the new version adds encrypted TCP/IP communications, enabling security administrators to control Digitus units anywhere in the world from a single location

  • Congress wants tighter look at passengers claiming to be policemen

    Currently, all one has to do at an airport to prove he or she is a law enforcement officer — and, thus, entitled to bring a weapon on board — is show a photo ID and a letter from the law enforcement agency employing them; both documents can be easily forged

  • Finger-vein biometrics on the rise

    A system developed by Hitachi transmits infra-red light into a part of the finger being scanned, which is absorbed by hemoglobin in the blood, causing the person’s vein pattern to show up as dark lines; the image can be captured by a special digital camera; some say the technology will replace fingerprint biometrics for ATMs, car locks, and more

  • More schools turn to biometrics

    Many parents object to their children being fingeprinted in school — the fingerprints are used to identify students in the cafeteria, library, and even to take attendance in class — and there is the question of cost, but school administrators see many benefits in installing biometric systems

  • Getting one's name off no-fly watch list a major hassle

    The U.S. lists 28 organizations as terrorist organizations; their total membership is estimated to be around 180,000 (of about 120,000 are members of the recently added Iranian Revolutionary Guard); yet, the U.S. terrorism no-fly watch list now contains more than 700,000 names — and it is growing by thousands every month; if your name got on the list by mistake, it is not easy to have it removed

  • Spam, Q4 Email Threat Trends of 2007

    A steep rise in attacks using social networking techniques which target user psychology and behavior patterns; spammers launched attacks by predicting user behavior patterns, such as looking for easy cash and discounted gifts during the holiday season, and preying on consumer trust to generate interest in cheap pharmaceutical products and stocks

  • Emphasis shifts to analytical tools rather than building sturdier walls

    The $169 million PayPal paid for Israeli on-line security specialist Fraud Sciences is part of a larger trend in security: “Security is less a matter of keeping everyone outside the outer wall and more one of detecting them sneaking through the premises,” as one analyst put it

  • Scottish Tories launch campaign against "ineffective" ID cards

    Scottish Tories launch new criticism of the U.K. government for a national biometric ID; “Despite what Gordon Brown and the Labour government says, ID cards won’t stop terrorist attacks and won’t prevent identity fraud,” leader says.

  • Fingerprint scanning pulled from Valley schools

    Arizona school district began to fingerprint students without notifying parents, or asking for the parents’ permission; the parents rebelled, the State Senate is discussing a bill to outlaw such fingerprinting, and the school district retreated: Fingerprinting will stop, and the fingerprint database will be deleted