Jason

Industry News

White Paper: An Enterprise Perspective for Biometric Identification by Securlinx Advisory Board Member Tom Karson MD now available

We’re pleased to announce that our advisory board member Tom Karson’s white paper introducing the Repository for Universal Biometric Identification (RUBI) framework is now available exclusively at Securlinx.com.

Request a free pdf copy using our contact form here.

The Problem—Who Are You Really?
Personal Identity has become a major problem in the complex digital world in which we live.

Every organization is wrestling with the fundamental question of how to reliably determine with whom they are dealing, whether that individual is already known to that organization, and that person’s relationship and role within that organization.

Tom Karson MD
Dr. Karson is a physician and healthcare IT executive who has served as Corporate Chief Medical Information Officer at Continuum Health Partners, Deputy CIO for Yeshiva University and Medical Director Information Systems at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. He is a cardiologist, intensivist and Harvard-MIT trained informaticist who has been on the faculty at some of our nation’s most prestigious institutions including the Cleveland Clinic and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Our Press Release on the white paper is here.

healthcare, Industry News, interoperability, regulation

Roadmap for health data interoperability

The ONC and CMS Give Digital Health Innovators A Map for the Emerging Data Interoperability Highway (Aperture Law Group)

“On February 11, 2019, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for implementing data interoperability provisions of the 21st Century Cures Act.  Under the proposed rule, all health information technology (HIT) vendors that sell ‘certified electronic health record technology’ (CEHRT) to health care providers will be required to meet new security, data governance and API standards, once final rules take effect.  The proposed rule also describes steps to end business practices that emerged during the years when electronic health records were being adopted, which Congress viewed as anti-competitive.

In a related announcement, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a Proposed Rule to promote data interoperability by health plans that participate in the Medicare, Medicaid or the CHIP program, or that issue qualified health plans in the individual health insurance marketplace.”

Much more at the link.

Industry News

Stabbing at Arizona hospital leads to lawsuit, questions about patient safety and security (ABC 15 – Arizona)

“Aaron Wallace was sleeping when he was attacked in his bed.

The patient at the Arizona State Hospital was stabbed by Reuben Murray, a fellow patient with a murderous past, who was wandering the halls unsupervised in the middle of the night with a sharpened pencil, according to a recent lawsuit filed against the state.”

The hospital security environment is extremely complex. Making hospitals safer requires great technology properly integrated with efficient security staff.

healthcare, ID management, patient

Biometrics For Patient Identification: Obstacles And Opportunities (Health IT Outcomes)

Daniel Cidon, Chief Technology Officer of NextGate, has a really well-sourced piece up at Health IT Outcomes. Using data from recent studies by ECRI, Gartner, and Pew, his perspective on healthcare ID management and biometrics is well worth a read.

A sample…

“Research at the ECRI Institute paints a grim picture of how deeply troubling and harmful patient identification errors can be. In examining 7,613 cases of wrong-patient errors at 181 organizations, incidents included an individual in cardiac arrest that was not resuscitated because the care team mistakenly obeyed the wrong patient’s do-not-resuscitate order and an infant given milk from the wrong mother who was infected with hepatitis.

ECRI found 13 percent of identification errors occurred at registration, when, for example, duplicate records were created, or two patients’ records were “overlaid,” a term that describes when information from one patient is used to replace another’s.

These issues are driving health IT executives to pursue use of biometrics technology at registration to add another layer of protection of patient identity integrity.”

cloud, financial, forecast, IdentiTrac

Market report for cloud biometrics for financial authentication

Cloud Biometrics Use to Soar in Two Years: Report (Infosecurity Magazine)

“Over half a billion customers worldwide will be using cloud-based biometrics to securely authenticate with their banks within two years, according to a new analyst report.

London-based Goode Intelligence’s Biometrics for Banking report details what might happen to the market over the next five years.

It claims that by the end of 2020, 1.9 billion bank customers will be using biometrics to: withdraw cash from ATMs, prove their identity over the phone, access banking services through smart devices and more. Sometimes a combination of biometrics will be needed, for example to initiative a transfer of funds from a web-based interface.”

We’re also seeing a lot of activity on this front and adoption of our IdentiTrac Web API.

Singapore

Singapore testing iris biometrics for border efficiency

Singapore tests eye scans at immigration checkpoints (Reuters)

“The trials will help us in our consideration of whether and how we should implement such technology at our checkpoints,” the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in an emailed statement.

The move will be implemented at two checkpoints on its northern border with Malaysia and one at a ferry terminal running services to nearby Indonesian islands.

The Singapore-Malaysia border is extremely busy and has been a hotbed of early biometric adoption for years. The map and photo below gives a flavor of the relevant geography. The red dot on the Singapore map is the approximate location of the Johor–Singapore Causeway pictured at right below.
biometrics, healthcare, interoperability

Healthcare biometrics foster better delivery and outcomes

Biometrics entering a new era in healthcare (Healthcare IT News)

“The future portends a new era of biometrics. Advances to the technologies will make them more attractive to healthcare organizations. Decreasing costs will make biometrics a more palatable move. Other technologies like artificial intelligence will, in turn, also give biometrics a boost.

But mainstreaming biometrics faces a variety of challenges. These include privacy, people, cost and interoperability.”

As they say, read the whole thing. It’s a really informative piece.

face, Illinois, Microsoft, regulation

Federal regulation for face recognition technology?

Microsoft wants regulation of facial recognition technology to limit ‘abuse’ (CNN)

“Facial recognition — a computer’s ability to identify or verify people’s faces from a photo or through a camera — has been developing rapidly. Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), Amazon and Microsoft are among the big tech companies developing and selling such systems. The technology is being used across a range of industries, from private businesses like hotels and casinos, to social media and law enforcement.

Supporters say facial recognition software improves safety for companies and customers and can help police track police down criminals or find missing children. Civil rights groups warn it can infringe on privacy and allow for illegal surveillance and monitoring. There is also room for error, they argue, since the still-emerging technology can result in false identifications.”

The details of any such federal regulation will matter a lot. I believe three states have laws regulating face recognition technology today: Illinois, Texas, Washington. Illinois is reportedly considering revisions to its Biometric Privacy Law (BIPA) to limit its scope.

The US Congress will need to decide whether to continue to leave regulation of biometric systems to the States or that it’s time for federal action. We’ll definitely bee keeping a close eye on this.

face, law enforcement, Maryland

Facial Recognition quickly ID’s mass shooting suspect

Capital Gazette shooting suspect was identified using face recognition technology (MIT Technology Review)

“After a man killed five members of the paper’s staff last week, authorities quickly apprehended a suspect. He did not have an ID on him, refused to cooperate with police, and couldn’t easily be recognized via his fingerprints, so they turned to face recognition software.”

healthcare, ROI

Value-Based Healthcare – The Role of the Vendor Community

Our own Ron Kaczorowski has an essay up at Longwoods.com.

Thesis:

“In healthcare, delivering value – measured by client-centric outcomes for dollars spent – is a constant and dynamic challenge. For those vendors who focus on the healthcare market, and who strive for sustainable success, their strategies and programs must appeal to a diverse stakeholder community – healthcare providers, payors, policy makers and, most importantly, patients.”

face, India, UID

India adding facial recognition to UID August 1

UIDAI delays introduction of face recognition facility for Aadhaar till August 1 (Hindustan Times)

“The authority in charge of the national identity system had earlier this year announced that it will include face recognition alongside iris or fingerprint scan as a means of verifying users, helping those who face issues in biometric authentication or have worn-out fingerprints…

It is aimed at helping people who face difficulty in biometric authentication due to old age, hardwork or worn-out fingerprints, to authenticate their identity for accessing services, benefits and subsidies.”

It has been a while since we last called attention to India’s UIDAI. Nevertheless, it is very exciting that India is adding facial recognition to its UID toolkit.

A few years ago we posted that in Odisha, a state in eastern India (2014 pop. 43.73 million), there were potentially 1 million true “errors,” or failed enrollments that are potentially valid and are described as those submitted on behalf of “very old people and children (between five to 10 years), whose finger prints and iris scans were not registered properly.”

Moreover, As of May 2015, across India, around 618,000 (0.07%) of UID numbers had been issued with biometric exceptions where UID numbers were issued to individuals who simply could not be enrolled using fingerprint or iris technology.

Adding facial recognition to the UID ecosystem should help bring more people into the system and reduce matching costs for all sorts of verification transactions for everyone due to the ubiquity of mobile cameras versus fingerprint and iris hardware.

Facial recognition seems to have a lot of market momentum at the moment, and because of the sheer size and scope of India’s UID efforts, everything they do produces a trove of data on large-scale biometric deployments.

face, fingerprint, iris, modality

Face, iris gaining ground in authentication applications

The future of biometric modalities in consumer electronics (Help Net Security)

“ABI Research posits that as ASPs for iris modules drop, and the once timid face recognition is continuously honed with more sophisticated machine learning algorithms, they will both slowly start to eat away at fingerprint implementations.”

There’s a lot of good information in the linked article. Fingerprint technology is still the most ubiquitous biometric technology worldwide and it will be for some time. Biometrics will ultimately be an all-of-the-above industry where the application determines the biometric modality/modalities brought to bear.

air travel, airport, face, transportation, travel

Orlando: Face recognition for biometric entry/exit

Facial recognition to identify all international passengers at Orlando airport (Business Traveller)

“Instead of handling paper documents, boarding passengers will queue in turnstile-like lanes, stepping onto yellow footprints and looking into a camera to have their face scanned. The scan will then be compared to images obtained from passports or other travel documents to confirm identity.”

The aspect of this program dealing with facial recognition for departing passengers is especially interesting. Airline gate agents probably aren’t trained to detect identity fraud to the degree that customs agents are. Their priority is to board the aircraft as efficiently as possible.

Recording the biometric transaction will also begin to provide rigorous data that may also inform efforts to meet the repeated US Congress requirements for biometric exit technology.

Much more information with pictures and video is available at the Orlando Sentinel.

face

Facing the future

In a post at Biometrics Update, Ever AI CEO Doug Aley makes the case that facial recognition technology is ready to reduce friction in identity authentication across a range of industries. It’s well worth reading in its entirety.

Is face recognition ready to make its mark? (Biometric Update)

“For as hard as the industry has tried, consider all of the potential security exposures that still exist. Four-digit ATM pin codes. Patient identities verified by Social Security numbers. Lost or stolen physical corporate ID badges. Just the other day, in creating a security profile someone asked me for my mother’s maiden name.

Face recognition technologies are poised to re-write the rules of how transactions and identities are secured. But are we ready?”

We’re ready. The challenge for organizations seeking to adopt facial recognition to improve services is integrating the technology with existing processes and data structures. Our FaceTrac/IdentiTrac platform provides both the facial recognition technology and the integration with existing databases and applications.

Illinois, law, privacy, regulation

Illinois to revisit BIPA law?

Illinois Considering Amendments to Biometric Privacy Law (BIPA) That Would Create Major Exemptions to Its Scope (Proskauer.com)

“Biometric privacy remains an important issue, as facial recognition and other biometric technologies are increasingly in use. As such, it is desirable to find a balance between privacy and security while at the same time allowing companies to use the advances in biometrics in productive ways. Some argue that the Illinois law, in its present form, fails to strike that balance. It appears that some of the Illinois legislators have heard that argument and are trying to correct any imbalance that the law might present. Given what’s at stake, we will closely follow these legislative developments.”

Proskauer Rose, the source of the linked article, is an international law firm with offices in Chicago. The full piece has a lot of links to more information on the Illinois BIPA law. Read the whole thing, especially if you’re interested in biometrics, privacy, or in business in Illinois.

Our previous posts touching on the Illinois BIPA law can be found here.

children, face, India

Facial Recognition System Helps Trace 3,000 Missing Children In 4 Days

The identities of the missing children have been established and efforts are on to help them reunite with their families. (NDTV – India)

“New Delhi: Nearly 3,000 missing children have been traced in four days, thanks to the facial recognition system (FRS) software that the Delhi Police is using on a trial basis to track down such children.

The identities of the missing children have been established and efforts are on to help them reunite with their families.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), in an affidavit to the high court, said that the Delhi Police, on a trial basis, used the FRS on 45,000 children living in different children’s homes. Of them, 2,930 children could be recognised between April 6 and April 10.”

A heartwarming story with a dose of local politics.

adoption, survey

More secure and more convenient

Research shows organisations turning to biometrics (Planet Biometrics)

“The research, based on survey results from 200 U.S. senior IT decision makers, outlines how there is a lack of confidence of passwords alone to secure data sufficiently while highlighting how organizations are moving towards biometrics to better safeguard their most critical assets.”

“Harnessing the Power of Biometrics: The overwhelming majority of respondents agree that biometrics is the most secure authentication method for both organizations (86%) and consumers (86%) to use. Respondents believe the main reasons for using biometric authentication include overall better security (63%), increased workforce productivity (54%) and better accessibility (50%).”

Usually, increasing security decreases convenience. Biometric solutions offer a rare chance for organizations to increase security and convenience at the same time and senior IT staff are starting to embrace the opportunity.

 

Event, FaceTrac, healthcare, security

Securlinx at IAHSS in Chicago

Securlinx, is on the ground in Chicago to take part in the International Association for Healthcare Security & Safety (IAHSS) annual conference and to demonstrate the newest version of our FaceTrac facial recognition software. We’ll be in booth #601 today and tomorrow.

IAHSS is dedicated to professionals involved in managing and directing security and safety programs in healthcare facilities.