Biometric RFID
UK Schools Fast To Adopt Biometrics: 1M+ Pupils Registered
New research has been published that shows more than one million children in England have had their fingerprints taken by their school, demonstrating a high demand for the technology despite possible privacy concerns. The figures come from a Big Brother Watch report " Biometrics in Schools " which calculated that over 1.28 million students had been fingerprinted in secondary schools and academies (based on data from the 2012-13 academic year). The research, gathered from Freedom of Information Requests to more than 3,000 schools, shows that at the start of the academic year 2012-13 an estimated 40% of schools in England are using biometric technology. Laws governing the enrolling of biometrics in schools were enshrined in the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Before that Act came into force, Big Brother Watch estimates that 31% of schools did not consult parents before enrolling children. Under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, the rules for schools and colleges that use biometric recognition systems, such as fingerprint identification and facial scanning, now state: For all pupils in schools and colleges under 18, they must obtain the written consent of a parent before they take and process their child’s biometric data. They must treat the data with appropriate care and must comply with data protection principles as set out in the Data Protection Act 1998. They must provide alternative means for accessing services where a parent or pupil has refused consent. A spokesman at the Association of School and College Leaders – which represents secondary […]
Source www.planetbiometrics.com
Japan Pushes Next-Generation Surveillance Techniques
TOKYO — Projects are under way at Japanese universities to develop new personal authentication technologies using individuals’ habits and unconscious behaviors that are hard to be imitated, hoping to turn them into commercial use by 2020. Conventional methods use fingerprints, irides and facial images to prevent personal fraud. Experts warn these security methods are still vulnerable to identity theft. A research team led by Yuji Watanabe, an associate professor at Nagoya City University, is working on software designed to discern people’s identities from movements and the speed at which their fingers operate smartphones. The software also aims to capture particular habits when users touch handsets for the first time. The system is said to verify identification with an accuracy of more than 93%. The university hopes to start joint development of the system with companies within a few years. A team led by Mutsumi Watanabe, a professor at Kagoshima University, is developing a system to recognize people’s identities through handwriting done in the air with fingers. This handwriting is said to be distinct from person to person. The technology is expected to be used at security gates in schools and offices. A team led by professor Yoshinobu Kajikawa of Kansai University is studying a biometric authentication method that focuses on people’s lip motion. It can verify identities with 94% accuracy. A gait recognition system, developed by professor Yasushi Yagi of Osaka University, will soon be put into practical use […]
Source asia.nikkei.com
How In-Store Analytics Is Changing The Way You Shop
Apple’s Latest iPhone Models Go On Sale Across U.S. Andrew Burton/Getty Most of us have accepted the fact that when we log on to a website, web cookies are tracking our every click. That’s how sites like this can tell what people are reading and what they’re ignoring, which all helps inform what those sites publish next. The same goes for e-commerce sites. If you click a pair of shoes at Saks.com several times, maybe even drop it into a virtual shopping cart, it’s likely you’ll see ads for that exact shoe hours, even days, later. Whether or not you bought the shoes only matters a little. Cookies allow e-commerce sites to track consumer behavior, which in turn better informs what each site looks like, what kinds of products it offers and where else on the web it buys ads. Retailers want to be able to gather the same data that they gather online at their brick-and-mortar stores. Until recently, that hasn’t been possible. The advent of smartphones, however, means that retailers are increasingly able to track your every move. And just like there are multiple analytics platforms on the web — from Google Analytics to my particular favorite, Omniture — there are dozens of in-store analytics programs, too, many of which have received millions of dollars in venture capital funding over the past couple of years. The one you’re most likely to encounter initially is iBeacon, which was developed by Apple . It works with your iPhone’s Bluetooth […]
Source fashionista.com
Namibia Unveils Biometric Machine For Voter Registration
namibia flag December 20, 2013 – Namibia is planning to use a biometric voter registration system for its upcoming election and the country’s electoral commission has just launched the machine it will be using to enroll voters. According to a report in The Namibian , the machines were manufactured in South Africa, and consist of a laptop, fingerprint scanner, camera and signature and barcode scanner. Voter registration starts on January 15 and ends on March 2 next year. Altogether there are 904 machines as well as generators and back-up kits for emergencies. “All systems are ready and in place but it is important to note that the success of any electoral process depends on how the electoral and stakeholders are educated about the process,” Electoral Commission chairperson, Notemba Tjipueja said in The Namibian report. In December, 2012, Ghana held an election using biometric verification devices as the world watched with bated breath. Now, a year after the country’s election, results are still being contested , following much confusion over the status of verification machines during and after the election in Ghana. This isn’t the first time the biometric system used to verify voters has been called into question after-the-fact. Reported previously , Henrique Capriles Radonski, leader of the opposition in Venezuela, has demanded an audit of the entire election including fingerprints stored in the election registry, following his party’s loss by less than 2 percent in the country’s recent presidential elections. Also, following an election in Kenya using biometric verification, […]
Source www.biometricupdate.com
SmartMetric Says the Time Has Come for Biometric Protected Credit and Debit Cards
SmartMetric, Inc. 40 Million Credit and Debit Cards Have Passwords and CVC’s Along With Names and Card Numbers Stolen in U.S.A. in Past Few Days NEW YORK, NY–(Marketwired – Dec 19, 2013) – SmartMetric, Inc. ( OTCQB : SMME ) — Speaking today from NEW YORK, SmartMetric™ Inc. President & CEO Chaya Hendrick said the SmartMetric biometric card with a self powered in card fingerprint reader is a technology solution using the power of biometrics to protect the public and merchant alike from credit card fraud. She said SmartMetric has been approached from financial institutions from around the world looking at a better solution to the vulnerable pin dependant cards. The gigantic criminal theft of over 40 million credit cards information over the past few days from just one retailer shows how vulnerable the existing card payment system is and the time has come for a better card solution. The biometric payment card from SmartMetric uses a person’s fingerprint to activate the card and stores card information encrypted inside the card’s internal electronics. For information on SmartMetric and its technology please go to www.smartmetric.com . For information on the SmartMetric™ MedicalKeyring™ please go to www.medicalkeyring.com Safe Harbor Statement Certain of the above statements contained in this press release are forward looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Such forward looking statements are within the meaning of that term in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Readers are cautioned […]
Source www.marketwired.com
Armenia: Only Biometric Passports And ID Cards To Be Issued From January 2014
Karen Ghazaryan Public Radio of Armenia The biometric passports and ID cards were implemented in Armenia on June 1, 2012. The system has proved successful, and the advantage of biometric passports is obvious. Therefore, starting from January 2014 citizens will get only biometric passports and ID cards. The documents will be given for the term of 10 years. According to Norayr Muradkhanyan, Head of the Visa and Passport Department of RA Police, the biometric passports and ID cards are better protected. “Families receiving poverty benefits and 16-year-old citizens will be provided ID cards free of charge,” he said. The old passports will remain in use until their validity term expires, Muradkhanyan said. Biometric passports are necessary for traveling abroad, while ID cards can be used on the territory of the Republic of Armenia. Comments comments
Source www.armradio.am
Russian Upper House Approves Law On Biometric Passports With Fingerprints
Russian Federation passport 15:05 18/12/2013 MOSCOW, December 18 (RAPSI) – Russia’s Federation Council on Wednesday approved the law on issuing biometric foreign passports with fingerprints starting January 1, 2015. The law gives the federal executive authorities and their territorial branches, as well as diplomatic and consular missions, the right to collect and process additional biometric information of passport holders. Currently, Russian biometric foreign passports only contain one biometric parameter, a 3D photo. It is planned to collect fingerprints of all Russian nationals aged above 12 years. This information will be stored in the chip embedded in the passport to ensure maximum protection, reads the explanatory note to the bill. The goal is to simplify the authentication of passport data and to prevent, expose and preclude the use of passports for criminal purposes. The law is to become effective in Russia on January 1, 2015 and for diplomatic and consular missions outside Russia, as soon as they are equipped to issue the new passports, but no later than January 1, 2016.
Source rapsinews.com
Can Apple Transfer Its Elegance To Secure Biometrics And Access Control?
With a fresh patent in hand this week for facial recognition, a fingerprint reader on its iPhone 5 and a new $345 million acquisition of 3D-sensor company PrimeSense , Apple seems to be putting some serious body english on the user interface. Apple facial recognition device touchID primesense Exhibit 1 from Apple’s Facial Recognition patent. No. 124 points to an "image sensor" behind the screen. Is Apple gunning to re-define interacting (re: authentication) and interfacing with computers, devices – and ultimately "things" in the computing environment at large? And will it re-set expectations for security, as well as, for innovation and convenience? Apple’s newest patent awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office points to a sophisticated array of biometric and gesture-based inputs across a range of devices and vertical industries. If that is the case (the company isn’t saying), can Apple’s pedigree for elegant design overcome fickle user acceptance and current shortcomings in biometric technology and lap the field? "The state of play today in consumer biometrics security is pretty primitive," said Steve Wilson, vice president and principal analyst at Constellation Research. "In security, we’re accustomed to rigorous standards and testing; lots of peer review; all encryption algorithms being published. But with biometrics we still don’t have agreed upon test protocols." Wilson said consumer biometrics is all about convenience and has very little to do with serious security. Apple found that out first hand when the Touch ID fingerprint reader on the new iPhone 5 was hacked shortly after […]
Source www.zdnet.com
Aware Deploys Biometrics Software In Saudi Arabia For Visa Issuance
aware logo December 4, 2013 – Aware has announced that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has begun the deployment of several of the company’s COTS biometrics software as a component of the Kingdom’s update to its visa issuance management process. Specifically, the new system makes use of Aware’s Biometric Services Platform (BioSP) as well as its Universal Registration Client (URC) and its related APIs. According to the company, BioSP is a modular service-oriented application to implement workflows and to manage data exchange between government departments. URC is a biometric enrollment application that will operate on hundreds of workstations at consulates and visa service centers globally to collect biometric data from potential visitors to Saudi Arabia. For this project, Aware serves as the principal subcontractor to Fujitsu Arabia. Reported previously , Aware also recently announced that it had supplied products and services to Fujitsu for a similarly-scoped biometric visa applicant screening system in Canada. “The new system in Saudi Arabia highlights the scalability of Aware’s biometric services platform, designed to handle as many as sixteen thousand biometric enrollments in a single hour,” Rob Mungovan, VP at Aware said. “This deployment serves as yet another example of Aware’s COTS products and subcontracted services being used by an integrator to successfully field an advanced, biometrics-enabled visa issuance solution. Leave a Comment comments
Source www.biometricupdate.com
Integrators Get A Sales Edge With Edge Storage
YARMOUTH, Maine—Steve Gorski has experienced some déjà vu at recent trade shows. As GM Americas for Mobotix, a network camera company that takes a decentralized approach to storage, Gorski has been evangelizing the benefits of storage onboard the camera for a while. Now, he finds that he’s not alone in talking about the benefits of storage on the edge. While each manufacturer’s approach is different, in the past couple of years several video companies have come out with camera offerings that include edge video storage. “Storage on the edge makes a lot of sense,” Gorski said. “It’s been interesting to watch more and more manufacturers decide to do this. … Off the top of my head I can think of three or four.” All Mobotix cameras come with megapixel storage onboard, which isn’t the case with other manufacturers. And the actual onboard storage is only part of Mobotix’s decentralized approach. “If you need more, we have NAS [network attached storage] options,” he said. One of the reasons other manufacturers have started to offer storage on the edge is because of rapidly increasing capacity. Today, you can store “five days of full frame rate recording of high definition video on a … $40 64-gig SD card,” said Fredrik Nilsson, GM Americas for network video manufacturer Axis Communications. Looking ahead, Nilsson surmised that in 2015, that same $40 SD card will be able to hold 30 days of video, in 2018 it will store three months and ten years from now […]
Source www.securitydirectornews.com
Pivot3 Puts Former Perot Exec In CEO Hotseat
Free Regcast : Managing Multi-Vendor Devices with System Centre 2012 Ron Nash is the new CEO at Pivot3, a 10-year-old converged storage startup that has not been setting the world on fire. The company, founded in 2003 by Lee Caswell and Bob Galloway, aimed to build storage systems with server virtualisation embedded within, which it markets as “serverless computing”. Today it has more than 600 customers for its vSTAC converged storage and compute appliances, and focuses on the video surveillance and VDI markets. Rich Bravman was the CEO from November of 2011 to April this year, when he left. In August this year Lee Caswell left and joined Fusion-io as the VP for its virtualisation product group and product marketing. He was an early CEO at Pivot3, serving in that role from 2005 to 2007. When a co-founder leaves a startup for a salaried post at an alternative company, that implies the heady startup days of business-building and share options with stratospheric potential are over. Now Ron Nash has been appointed CEO: an old war horse, we might think, as he’s been Pivot3’s exec chairman since January 2005. He’s an ex-Perot Systems Corp VP, and was at EDS before that. He is also part of venture capital firm InterWest Partners and boasts a history of serving in several board positions, including multiple chairmanships. So why has he decided to up his stress levels and become a CEO again? The company statement says: ”Mr Nash will be responsible for accelerating […]
Source www.theregister.co.uk
Pivot3 Announces Another $14 Million Financing Round
Pivot3, a leading supplier of video surveillance and virtual desktop (VDI) converged infrastructure storage appliances, announced today that it has closed a significant financing round of more than $14 million in new investment and working capital to fund the company’s growth and its drive to sustained profitability in 2014. The round consists of additional equity funding as well as other financial support from investors and key business partners. The equity funding was led by InterWest Partners and Mesirow Financial Capital Partners, and included additional funding from Focus Ventures, Lightspeed Partners, Silver Creek Ventures, Northleaf Ventures and Wilson Sonsini. Comerica Bank also provided important financial support. Founded in 2003, Pivot3 pioneered the development of purpose-built virtualized storage appliances for the surveillance market. Since that time, the company has continued to strengthen its surveillance product line, most recently with the addition of the Pivot3 vSTAC ® Edge appliance for distributed environments. The company partners with Dell OEM Solutions for manufacturing, global service and support to bring its product to market. Pivot3 also leverages its own core technology platform to develop converged storage and compute hardware appliances that deliver simplicity, scalability and savings to virtual desktop environments. Today, Pivot3 accounts for more than 600 customers in industries ranging from corrections and education to government, healthcare and retail. “This financing is a testament to the innovation and great momentum we have established for our storage platforms in both surveillance and VDI,” said Bill Galloway, Chief Executive Officer, Pivot3. “This latest round of financial backing puts Pivot3 in […]
Source vmblog.com
Video Surveillance Producing 413 Petabytes Daily Says IHS
413PB/Day Produced WW By Video Surveillance Cameras In 2013 says IHS Big Data: The Rise of HD Video Surveillance Cameras Spurs Information Explosion How much data is in 413 Petabytes […]
Pivot3 Announces Surveillance Appliance For Distributed Environments
Pivot3 Inc., supplier of video surveillance and VDI serverless storage apliances, announces the release of its vSTAC Watch Edge R2 appliances, designed for distributed sites requiring fast shared storage with […]
QNAP Security Enhances Storage Expansion Solution And Adds Edge Recording Function
QNAP Security Enhances Storage Expansion Solution and Adds Edge Recording Function for VioStor NVR Firmware v4.1.1 NewswireToday – /newswire/ – Taipei, Taiwan, 2013/09/17 – QNAP® Security, a professional Linux-based stand-alone NVR provider, today updated their VioStor NVR firmware v4.1.1 with an enhanced storage expansion solution – QNAPSecurity.com . Rank or share this free Newswire Press Release Distribution content. Join the network! Learn How! Your Banner Ad Here instead – Showing along with ALL Articles covering Audio/Video Equip./Surveillance Announcements The new firmware also supports a range of AXIS IP cameras for edge recording and two-way audio functions.
PROMISE Technology's High Performance Storage Appliances for IP Video Surveillance Featured At ASIS
At the upcoming ASIS 2013, PROMISE Technology, a recognized global leader in the storage industry and the leading developer of high-performance storage solutions for the video surveillance market, will be […]
Broadberry And Mirasys Partner To Deliver Video Surveillance Solutions On Windows Storage Server 2012
Hi Folks – In this post, I’m examining how Broadberry (a Windows Storage Server partner) is working with Mirasys —a video surveillance solution provider—to leverage Windows Storage Server 2012 as the storage component of a complete video surveillance solution. This is a great workload for Windows Storage Server because it plays to several of its strengths, including its ease of deployment, ease of management, and cost-effectiveness when it comes to high-capacity, enterprise-class storage. I recently blogged about Broadberry , which has been selling Windows Storage Server solutions for as long as I can recall. Broadberry is reaching the video surveillance market by partnering with video surveillance solution providers, who package Windows Storage Server 2012 running on Broadberry servers together with cameras, video management software, and other components of a complete video surveillance solution. Mirasys, a leading provider of video management solutions for IP and analog camera surveillance, is one such Broadberry partner. Mirasys Carbon Video Management System (VMS) , the company’s flagship offering, is capable of supporting thousands of video recorders and hundreds of thousands of cameras. Components of a Mirasys Carbon solution often include: A Typical Deployment When a new hotel came to Mirasys for a future-proof, large-scale video management solution, Mirasys turned to Broadberry for the required application servers and storage servers. From a storage sizing perspective, the solution had to support more than five hundred high-resolution video cameras, with all video retained and readily accessible for 90 days—resulting in a required 500+ TB of total storage […]
Source blogs.technet.com
ONVIF Publishes Profile G Draft for Video Storage and Recording
ONVIF, a global standardization initiative for IP-based physical security products, announced the Release Candidate for Profile G ? the specification designed to store, search, retrieve and play back media on […]
Bitrate, Bandwidth, And Budget Primer
You want to install as many surveillance cameras as your budget will allow. But what part of the budget does the batch of surveillance cameras take and what part of […]