Biometrics in the data center, fingerprints, authentication and privacy concerns top this week’s news
November 15, 2015 | Stephen Mayhew from Biometric UpdateHere is a recap of the most popular biometrics industry news that appeared on BiometricUpdate.com this past week
Authentication
A recent White House report has found that Federal agencies have been slow to adopt two factor authentication despite an order more than a decade ago that Federal agencies secure their information systems with strong authentication technologies.
Biometrics in mobile devices will generate US$9 billion by 2018 for the biometrics industry through multi-factor authentication services and the approval of instant electronic payments finds a recent report examining the growing drivers for mobile biometric authentication and modes of standardization.
Privacy concerns
The use of facial recognition technology by retailers such as Target, Home Depot and Walmart has raised several public concerns about whether retailers should adhere to certain regulations when using biometrics technology to ensure that they do not infringe the privacy rights of consumers.
Data centers
This week, physical data center security firm Digitus Biometrics released db DualLock, a combined smartcard and fingerprint solution the company says is the industry’s first access control swing-lock that enables dual-factor authentication at the server cabinet door.
Payment technology
WorldPay and Visa Europe Collab are undergoing a three-week trial to test the feasibility and value of Sthaler’s Fingopay finger vein reader in a high volume transaction retail environment. Worldpay staff is testing the system in a restaurant at WorldPay’s London headquarters, while hundreds of Europe Visa Collab employees are testing the biometric payment technology internally.
Paytoo introduced its updated and new range of biometrics enabled payment services at the International Money Transfer Conference in Miami Beach, Florida last week including its Generation II Multi-Service Kiosk which can process facial recognition authentication and identity verification in real time.
Border security
This week, Vision-Box, which designs, develops, manufactures and integrates biometric border control solutions, announced that Keensight Capital has made a minority equity stake investment in the company to support the growth that they have been experiencing since 2013.
As part of its overall initiative to update its Enhanced Movement Control System (EMCS) at all ports of entry, South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs has launched a pilot project in which it will capture and collect biometric data at various international airports across the country.
Biometrics Special Reports
In January, government and industry experts will attend the Biometrics for Government & Law Enforcement conference to discuss issues of law enforcement and national security and the development of the next generation of analytics-based biometrics. We spoke with the conference director and a technologist at the DoJ about what to expect at the show.
New applications, ideas
A new white paper entitled “A New Golden Age for Air Travel,” takes a look at a handful of ways in which biometrics can be implemented to improve the air travel experience for passengers including iris recognition for self-service boarding and fingerprint authentication for in-flight purchases.
Synaptics has released a portfolio of human interface solutions designed for the automotive industry with touch controllers, display drivers, and biometric sensors including Natural ID fingerprint sensors for security and personalization allowing users to unlock the vehicle, perform cockpit and mirror adjustments, start the vehicle, set entertainment preferences, and ensure theft prevention.
Fingerprint technology
Vkansee president Jason Chaikin spoke with BiometricUpdate.com this week about the company’s new optical fingerprint sensors, the spoofing method that successfully hacked the capacitive fingerprint sensors embedded in Apple and Samsung devices and the future of fingerprint recognition in the biometrics market.
A group of former engineering students from the University of Waterloo have developed a quick-release biometric bike lock that unlocks using the user’s fingerprint. Grasp, Inc. launched a 60-day Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for the fingerprint lock on November 10 and has already raised almost $27,000 of its $75,000 goal.
Pennsylvania state police will purchase Live Scan fingerprint technology using a portion of the funds from a $814,000 grant the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency received from the U.S. Department of Justice to improve the criminal records system used in state police stations.
NEXT Biometrics will be presenting at Cartes Secure Connexions expo in Paris this week, including demonstrating its NEXUS Smartphone design with a full-size fingerprint sensor on the back of the device and a new ‘NEXT-enabled’ product designed by a customer, targeting secure payment transactions.
Goodix was named a CES 2016 Innovation Awards honoree for two of its products demonstrating outstanding design and engineering. The company’s Invisible Touch Fingerprint Sensor and Touch Screen Enables Sharing Through Screen Itself both won in the ‘Embedded Technologies’ product category.
Hoyos Labs contributed an article this week discussing its new, proprietary technology that is capable of collecting four fingerprints in a matter of seconds using only a person’s smartphone. 4F ID uses the phone’s rear camera and LED flashlight – thus, combating lighting issues – to capture four fingerprints and ridges on the fingers at the same time for a higher degree of reliability.
And finally, growing demand for fingerprint technology made a significant impact on the reported Q3 results for Fingerprint Cards, IDEX, Precise Biometrics and SMIC.