fingerprint

fingerprint, immigration, secure communities

Secure Communities, RIP

Obama Finally Puts an End to Unpopular Secure Communities Program (AllGov)

As part of broader immigration reforms, the Obama administration announced Thursday that the Secure Communities program, which mandated that local law enforcement submit biometric information on those suspected of being undocumented immigrants to the federal government, is going away. In its place will be the Priority Enforcement Program, which specifies that those held must be likely deportable or have a removal order in effect against them.

See also: Obamnesty ends Department of Homeland Security’s Secure Communities program (USA Today)

The tone of the two headlines provides an interesting contrast. Few who knew about the Secure Communities program were ambivalent about it.

Our discussion of the program (maps, statistics, etc.) peaked in 2012.

fingerprint, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, travel, visa

New Saudi biometric visa policies meet some resistance

PAKISTAN: Travel agents protest implementation of biometric system for Saudi visa applicants (Express Tribune)

“We have written to Etimad three times to come and discuss with us the system but they are not contacting us,” said Khalil, adding that if the system continues in the same manner, then the number of pilgrims from Pakistan would be reduced by half.

Pakistan already uses biometrics pretty extensively in elections and travel documents, so this seems to be more about implementation than biometric acceptance.

financial, fingerprint, mobile, payments

Mobile fingerprint technology will be commonplace

Biometrics: the future of payments (New Zealand Herald)

“The adoption of biometrics is on an exponential curve and is largely as a result of the financial services and payments industry,” said Dunstone.

The core uses of biometric data to date have been largely confined to government agencies such as passports and visa application processing as well as in policing but the technology is now starting to be adopted in consumer level devices.

crime, Fifth, finger, fingerprint, law enforcement, modality, voice

Voice biometrics and “the right to remain silent”

Passcode vs. Touch ID: A Legal Analysis (9TO5MAC)

With the suspect in handcuffs, the agent swipes the student’s finger across the phone to access his call history and messages. Once the FBI swipes the suspect’s finger and bypasses the biometric security, the phone asks for the student’s passcode. The FBI agent asks for his password but the student refuses to speak. How can the FBI agent access the phone? Whereas a fictional Federal Agent like Jack Bauer would simply pull out his gun, jam it in the suspect’s mouth and scream, “WHERE IS THE BOMB?”, in our example, the FBI agent would hit the proverbial brick wall.

This is where a gray area might still exist for hardware protected with voice biometrics.

I’m no criminal or constitutional lawyer, but it seems plausible that while a criminal suspect can be legally compelled to give over their fingerprint, the “right to remain silent” remains.

Commonwealth v. Baust probably isn’t the last word on all biometric modalities that could prove useful in criminal investigations.

fingerprint, law enforcement, mobile, New York

NYPD getting mobile fingerprint tech

NYPD Equips Officers With Biometric Smartphones (Government Technology)

New York Police Department officers and vehicles are to be outfitted with new technology as part of a $160 million program that will lead to fewer arrests and more summonses after being fully implemented next year, Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters on Oct. 23.

All 35,000 NYPD officers will be equipped with smartphones that allow officers to search databases, view wanted posters and scan suspects’ fingerprints.

fingerprint, forecast, India, market

India Fingerprint Biometrics Market (2014 – 2020) (6Wresearch)

According to 6Wresearch, India’s Fingerprint Biometrics Market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 35.1% during 2014-20.Though, in overall fingerprint biometrics market, government, travel & transportation application captured lion’s share, but in the forecast period its share is likely to decline, owing to increasing penetration and adoption in other application markets such as healthcare, banking & financial, retail and commercial offices.

Brazil, finger, fingerprint, voter

Biometric voter verification in Brazil

Biometric voting machine to be used by 21.6 million Brazilians (Agência Brasil)

Over 20 million voters—15% of the population to take part in the 2014 elections—are estimated to cast their ballot by means of a voting machine with biometric identification, announced the Superior Electoral Court (“TSE”) on Wednesday (Aug 20). The technology can be found in 762 municipalities, among which 15 state capitals. The machines use the electors’ fingerprints to recognize their identity.

banking, fingerprint, France, multifactor, token

France: Banking group looks toward multifactor authentication

France’s national interbank network, Groupement des Cartes Bancaires CB, is currently evaluating the use of biometry in payment transactions (TMCnet)

The first CB approval will involve the association of biometry and a chip integrated into a keyfob. Integration of the chip into a micro-SD card of a mobile phone is also being studied. Highly convenient, the user keeps the keyfob or telephone on his or her person, for example in a pocket or handbag, without needing to present it physically to pay or withdraw cash.

fingerprint, government, ID assurance, online

US Government online fingerprint ID system to be tested in Michigan & Pennsylvania

Government to Test ‘Identity Ecosystem’ in Two States (The Blaze)

The first round of tests are aimed at finding an efficient and secure two-step verification for accessing public programs, like government assistance. The White House believes this ID system will reduce fraud and overhead, by eliminating duplicated ID efforts across multiple agencies.

The Blaze article is quite negative on the whole project but it contains a lot of links to other sources of information. It’s worth a read.

fingerprint, mobile, spoofing

This kind of thing makes fingerprint spoofing even harder

Samsung patent suggests multi-fingerprint e-wallet authentication and gesture control (Android Authority)

Applications for fingerprint scanning are quite limited at the moment…

The future may hold a bigger promise, however. A patent application made by Samsung indicates that the company may be working on an even more innovative use of fingerprint scanning for authentication. In the patent application, Samsung describes several methods for authenticating a purchase, such as through PIN, password, pattern, and even fingerprint scans. An interesting addition is the inclusion of multiple fingers for stronger authentication.

Uncertainty over which fingerprint was used — or in the not too distant future, which combination of fingerprints are used — would go a long way towards making the already difficult task of fingerprint spoofing even harder.

fingerprint, mobile, modality, vascular

Veins are great, but that doesn’t mean fingerprints are a “gimmick”

Vein-scanning technology may trump fingerprint scanning for payments (Sydney Morning Herald) But even if the headline is true, it doesn’t follow that

“Using our fingerprint is not a secure way to do [authentication],” Professor Susilo said. “It’s just like a gimmick.”

One of the main benefits of vein and iris scanning is that you don’t tend to leave behind iris or vein prints, he said.

As most vein scanner sensors coming out this year require no physical contact, it means there are no residual biometric patterns that could be copied, preventing fraudulent use.

Fingerprints are notoriously easy to lift from surfaces and are not secure, he said, which has been demonstrated by researchers for more than a decade.

In 2002, Japanese researchers showed that fingerprint scanners could be fooled with about $10 worth of household supplies. They also found many fingerprint systems did not detect if someone was “live and well”.

Vein scanners are, in fact “more secure” in the sense that there is no latency. You can’t leave vein prints behind. But that doesn’t mean that fingerprints are a gimmick.

To take the professor in his own terms, how much money worth of household supplies are required to access an unsecured mobile device? How much money worth of household supplies are required to access a device secured by a password? How easy is it to apply the $10 worth of household supplies to cracking the phone? The answers: None, None, Not very. It really isn’t that easy to spoof fingerprints without the participation of the person whose fingerprint is enrolled.

Vascular biometrics, on the other hand, have no latency. Nobody leaves behind vein prints. But hardware cost (too expensive) and form factor (too large) disqualify vein sensors’ use in mass market mobile devices*. Until about 6 months ago this was true even for fingerprint readers.

*In mobile devices, power consumption is also a big concern. I don’t really know if vein readers are power hogs or not. Perhaps the likely infrequency of vein sensor use compared to the screen or audio output means power requirements won’t end up being the determining factor for vein reader deployment anyway.