Authentication
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
Zwipe Launches Biometric Access Card With Fingerprint Cards Sensor
zwipe logo December 2, 2013 – Zwipe has just launched a biometric access card, with fingerprint touch sensors from Fingerprint Cards . According to the company, the new card is multi-functional and is ISO 14443 compliant. Fingerprint data is stored on the card itself. “Providing secure personal ID authentication in an easy-to-use portable device has been our goal,” Kim Kristian Humborstad, CEO of Zwipe said. “Together with FPC’s touch sensor, we have achieved this in our Zwipe Access biometric card. The card provides a secure environment, protecting user data while still being able to communicate easily with access control systems using standard interfaces. FPC’s fingerprint sensors deliver the performance and functionality that our card product requires in an application where low power consumption and compact size are crucial.” “The access control market using cards and tokens is expanding constantly and the challenge is to combine security with user convenience,” Thomas Rex, EVP Sales & Marketing of Fingerprint Cards said. “Zwipe’s biometric card is the solution to this and is a state-of-the-art product that really pushes the limits to what is possible to do on a card today. The use of a touch sensor provides an enhanced user experience and is in line with the worldwide trend of integrating touch sensors into portable devices.” Reported previously , Fingerprint Cards also recently launched a capacitive fingerprint touch sensor for Android and Windows that had a major effect on the company’s share price almost instantly. According to a recently-published report, the overall electronic […]
Source www.biometricupdate.com
Global Biometric Standards-Setting Body Formed
News analysis: Global biometric standards-setting body formed The Natural Security Alliance, a French-based international open source biometric standards-setting body that counts BNP Paribas, MasterCard and Carrefour Banque among its members, has launched what it claims is the world’s first association grouping, the Open Alliance, dedicated to propagating shared wireless biometric authentication to protect transactions. Up until now, the French-based organisation has not tried to corner the international standards market, reports Neil Ainger , but with the launch of the Natural Security Alliance’s open source group that is now changing. Jean-Pierre Viboud, group chief executive of Oney Banque Accord in France has been appointed as the open group Alliance’s first chairman, overseeing a collection of banks, card schemes, retailers and vendors all dedicated to developing and encouraging a global open source wireless biometric authentication standard. The shared protocol will be freely available to all and can protect transactions around the world. According to Viboud all open Alliance members, with the initial founding board including AS 24 (TOTAL oil group), Crédit Agricole, Paycert, SIX Payment Services and Swiss Capital International among many others, share a strategic commitment to delivering mission-critical authentication and payment solutions based upon biometric technology. “The Alliance was formed to provide a collaborative space for all professionals who are interested in biometrics and new payment systems to share and develop ideas for an open standard,” he said. “We believe that this information sharing and access to the specifications is one of the main benefits for our members. As […]
Source www.bobsguide.com
Fujitsu And PulseWallet Team Up For Biometric Payments
pulsewallet November 20, 2013 – Fujitsu Frontech North America and PulseWallet have announced a new relationship utilizing Fujitsu’s PalmSecure biometric technology for biometric payments. According to the companies, PulseWallet is paperless, storing transactions, transaction history, membership cards as well as promotions in a virtual customer profile. Now, under this new partnership, PulseWallet terminals aim to replace consumer credit and debit cards with palm-scanning technology. “From the very beginning, we were looking for an extremely secure and highly accurate form of strong biometric authentication technology to integrate with our solution. Customer registration has to work smoothly for all consumers and verification at POS must occur quickly,” Aimann Rasheed, co-founder and CEO of PulseWallet said. “We evaluated other forms of biometric authentication and we were most impressed with Fujitsu’s PalmSecure technology because of its speed, accuracy and flexibility.” PalmSecure sensors use near-infrared light to capture a user’s palm vein pattern without the need for contact with the sensor. “We are very proud to be partnering with PulseWallet and that they have chosen PalmSecure technology as a value-added benefit to their solution,” Randy Fox, senior director, currency handling and identification product solutions at Fujitsu Frontech North America said. “We are also extremely supportive of their green initiative. Fujitsu has been an eco-friendly company for over 30-years, with a true commitment to developing and delivering solutions that limit impact on the environment.” Payment systems are widely regarded to be the next big wave of biometric integrations, and many biometric wallet applications and solutions are […]
Source www.biometricupdate.com
BIO-key To Integrate Biometric Platform Into AMD Security Solutions
bio-key logo November 12, 2013 – BIO-key International has announced that the company is working with AMD to ensure compatibility of its WEB-key biometric management platform with AMD’s upcoming security solutions. As a result of this work, the company says device manufacturers will be able to use the BIO-key algorithm to match fingerprints on compatible AMD devices, with or without a server, or in the network or cloud. Specifically, AMD customers will be using BIO-key’s scanner independent algorithm. “BIO-key is honored to be working with AMD toward this uniquely valuable TrustZone integration,” said Jim Sullivan, BIO-key’s VP of Strategy and Business Development said. “With this solution, OEMs will be insulated from the rapidly changing fingerprint scanner marketplace by having a single best-of-breed, interoperable platform to interface with. Online service providers and enterprises will benefit from a standardized, securely configured WEB-key client on their users’ devices, made available by device manufacturers or through the ARM TrustZone technology ecosystem. This will allow enhanced security for online transactions and BYOD security. Fingerprint scanner manufacturers benefit by being part of a secure cloud infrastructure allowing remote and cloud authentication, which significantly enhances the core value proposition of fingerprint authentication beyond unlocking the phone or other device. Our existing patents on securing biometric data and keys using Trusted Execution Environments (TEE) make this a natural evolution of our product strategy.” Tomorrow, November 13, 2013, BIO-key will present at the 2013 AMD Developer Summit with its presentation titled, “Leveraging fingerprint biometric authentication to streamline secure access.” […]
Source www.biometricupdate.com
Biometric Technology: Curbing Fraud In Banks
biometric Mukosha mulenga By MUKOSHA MULENGA BANKS and other financial institutions hold the key to one of our most treasured assets: our money. Most banks are now looking at using biometrics to protect against identity fraud and comply with government regulations. The use of biometric technology is becoming widely recognised in the banking industry as a viable means to prevent identity fraud, safeguard data, improve ease-of-use, and save money from lost or stolen passwords. When you consider that approximately 84 percent of bank fraud is committed by in-house staff, or that nearly 40 percent of all help desk calls are for forgotten passwords, it is no surprise that many banks are turning to biometric technology for increased security and convenience. Banks therefore now have the challenge of integrating fingerprint functionality into existing in-house applications or their core banking applications. Banks can use solutions such as ) from M2SYS, for safeguarding enterprise data and reducing costs. EBS supports active directory, and can enable banks to secure login to their network and replace user names and passwords with something that you cannot share, lose, or forget: Your Fingerprint! With an ever-increasing number of security breaches, the pressure on banks to implement methods of password management, identity management, data and network security, and two factor authentication has never been stronger. The sharing or theft of user passwords still remains the most popular reason that corporate data is compromised. Biometrics solves this problem by allowing businesses and banks to implement a centralised biometric […]
Source daily-mail.co.zm
MasterCard Joins FIDO Alliance March To Standardize Biometric Authorization And Other Alternatives
Danielle Walker, Reporter October 09, 2013 Plans include an open standard that would shrink users’ dependency on passwords. Plans include an open standard that would shrink users’ dependency on passwords. MasterCard has joined forces with an organization that aims to eliminate consumers’ dependency on passwords and PINs for authentication. Last Wednesday, USA Today broke the news that the global payment processor planned to become a member of the Fast Identity Online (FIDO) Alliance, which was formed in 2012 by online transaction giant PayPal and a number of other companies to embrace innovative solutions for verifying users’ identities. By early 2014, the FIDO Alliance plans to introduce specifications for an open protocol standard for two-factor and multifactor authentication . The specifications would support biometric technologies, such as fingerprint scanners, voice and facial recognition, and other authentication measures, including one-time passwords (OTP) and near-field communication (NFC), a wireless technology that establishes communication between mobile devices through physical contact. In April, Google joined the FIDO Alliance. Now with the addition of MasterCard, the organization gains another power player in the industry that could give weight to its mission. On Tuesday, Brennen Byrne, CEO of Clef, an Oakland, Calif.-based mobile authentication startup, told SCMagazine.com that MasterCard’s participation in FIDO was a positive step. “The industry in general is looking for new ways to improve [methods] of authenticating,” Byrne said. “So it’s not surprising to me that MasterCard is joining on and taking the FIDO Alliance seriously,” he continued, adding later that “it’s good […]
Source www.scmagazine.com
PayPal Study Finds Consumers Okay With Biometrics
Visitors walk past an eBay and PayPal banner at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in this Feb. 28, 2012, file photo. Apple’s newest iPhone may have spurred some debate over whether it’s a good idea to unlock your phone with your fingerprint, but a new study from PayPal finds that a majority of Americans are comfortable with the idea of using their biometric information instead of the pesky passwords that are currently the norm. The survey, sponsored by PayPal and the National Cyber Security Alliance, found that 53 percent of those surveyed are “comfortable” replacing passwords with fingerprints, 45 percent would opt for a retinal scan, and 41 percent are comfortable with photo identification. This survey was conducted using an opt-in online panel, and its results cannot be projected to the overall U.S. public. Responses to the survey sketch a picture that suggests we’re more reliant than ever on our smartphones but still very unsure about the proper security measure we should be taking on our mobile devices. Two-thirds of those polled said that they keep their smartphones no farther than one room away — and 10 percent said they have their smartphones in hand at all times when not showering or sleeping. But nearly as many people, 63 percent, said that they don’t know or are unsure about what kind of financial information they store on their phones. Follow The Post’s new tech blog, The Switch , where technology and policy connect.
Source www.washingtonpost.com