Industry News

New iPad Air Leak Shows Touch ID Sensor (Web Pro News)

Indians give nod to surveillance of govt officials (Today Online) — The new transparency scheme for government employee time-and-attendance seems popular.

Biometric authentication moves beyond science fiction (Security Info Watch)

Nigeria launches MasterCard-branded eID card (Finextra)

Access denied – debunking popular biometrics myths (IT Web – S. Africa)

There are many myths and misnomers surrounding these unique identifiers and the technology used to capture them. Nick van der Merwe, Director of Technology and Business Development at Muvoni Biometric & Smartcard Solutions (MBSS) would like to set the record straight on a few of these myths.

Apple Denied Touch ID Trademark, Could Be Confused With Timecard System

Vegas, baby — Biometric identity verification coming to LAS

Face/voice multimodal mobile biometrics — Well, the sensor hardware already comes standard on all handsets

N.S.A. Collecting Millions of Faces From Web Images (New York Times)

Kyrgyz government examines Mongolia’s experience on collection of biometric data — Mongolia is issuing biometric “chip-on-card” ID’s

Apparently, the biometrics industry isn’t immune to software patent disputes

HUNGARY: Budapest airport begins biometric checks — Matching live scan with fingerprint stored on passport chip

PAKISTAN: Election Commission has announced electronic voting machines for next general elections in 2018 — Biometrics are mentioned but the modality isn’t specified.

CANADA: Police charge three with trying to bribe Indian officials to secure a $100 million contract for a biometric security system — Biometrics can be a great corruption-fighting tool but they’re hard to apply to the procurement process itself.

We’ve been hearing about this for a while — Samsung eyes iris-scanning security for future phones

And on a completely unrelated matter… Deloitte Survey Shows Security Concerns Loom Large as the Biggest Barrier for Mobile Financial Services

Since we haven’t mentioned it in a while: Biometrics can be a potent anti-corruption tool

Royal Bank of India sets aside decision for mandatory biometric authentication in PoS terminals — “In the testing phase, biometric authentication took up to 30 seconds even on 3G connections” Ouch!

PHILIPPINES: No biometrics, no voting in 2016

Facial recognition technology is still in its infancy (CSO) — As the article spends a fair amount of time on, there’s a significant difference in system performance with cooperative vs. non-cooperative users.

Private sector biometric time-and-attendance systems are gaining steam (Channel News Asia) — “…institutions including banks, schools and polyclinics have also expressed interest in such systems, adding that demand has increased by 30 per cent annually for the past three years.”

DHS testing biometric exit devices at mock airport this summer (Fierce Homeland Security) — The law requiring the DHS to implement such a system is a lot older than the DHS is.

A noble sentiment &#8212 It is essential to be familiar with the characteristics of biometrics systems in order to better understand how to think objectively about each type and make rational decisions about purchasing and using the technology.
An introduction to biometrics follows at Namibia’s New Era Newspaper.

Many things can be improved by adding a fingerprint reader — EMKA Touch uses biometric recognition via fingerprint to restrict server cabinet access (Source Engineer)

Shoe leather and high tech (WalkahWalkah.org)

Beginning the 6th of May 2014, the spokesman of the Commission on Elections James Jimenez and a committed group of Walkahs will walk in the footsteps of the umalohokan, starting from Laoag City and ending in the City of Manila. Along the way, he will be engaging local communities to bring them news about events and decrees that will impact one of their most precious rights: suffrage.

The web site for the effort is very well done and earnestly reflects the importance of proper elections. We wish the Walkahs the best.

You can also follow them on Titter @Walkah_Walkah

Privacy VS. Security; the Challenge and the Opportunity – how Biometrics and Cybersecurity are Changing the Future (Investor Ideas)

KENYA: The biometric election flop was bureaucratic, not technological as this article would have you believe. You didn’t need a fortune-teller to see it coming, either. We covered the whole sad story here.

Trusted digital identities and secure eServices to deliver 50bn in cost savings by 2020 (Secure Identity Alliance)

Saudi Arabia seeks to become GCC biometrics hub (Arab News)

Mobile biometrics market forecast: 156.9 percent compound annual growth rate through 2018 (FierceMobileIT)

Biometrics uncover ghost refugees (Townhall) — “At camps in Burkina Faso, the initial registration completed in May 2012 suggested that 107,000 Malians had fled an offensive that year by Islamist rebels and their Tuareg separatist allies. However, this month’s final registration phase, including finger printing and biometric operations like iris scans, came up with only 34,000, according to UNHCR data.”

Reducing fraud like this increases confidence among donors that their efforts are worthwhile.

A very busy week this week at SecurLinx has pulled me away from the blog. I should be back to sharing all the exciting news from the biometrics world with you again on Monday.

The findBIOMETRICS Newsletter is out! — Featuring an interview with James W. Jimmy Bianco, V.P. of Sales and Marketing, CMI Time management

Hackers compromise AP Twitter account

Google finance

AP Twitter feed hacked — no attack at White House (USA Today) 
Social media and the stock market went wild, briefly, on Tuesday when this (hacked) Associated Press tweet appeared around 1 p.m.

I’m off to change the @SecurLinx password now.

We’re taking some time off for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Blogging will resume, at the latest, Monday.

UPDATE: Due to a change in travel plans, we’ll be back in action Tuesday.

EyePrints to Provide Smartphone Security (Consumer Affairs)

It sounds like something out of a James Bond movie but it could be available on your smartphone next year. It’s a biometrics application that uses your “eye print” to access sensitive information with your mobile device.

WVU’s Arun Ross is quoted in the article.

From the trailer it looks like the new James Bond movie, Skyfall, will deal with some of the things that keep us going here.

It begins with the loss of a hard drive containing the identity of every agent embedded in terrorist organizations across the globe.

Then, about 53 seconds into the trailer, Q issues 007 a biometric gun coded to his palm print so only he can fire it. “Less of a random killing machine; more of a personal statement.”