Biometrics scan the future of security

From...

by Brian Fonseca

(IDG) -- Like the perennial bridesmaid hoping to find her perfect match, makers of biometrics technology continue to search for easier and more cost-effective means to secure user implementation.

Despite some big strides made last year by physical recognition devices and software in building relationships with industry heavyweights such as Microsoft, IBM, Visa, and Wells Fargo, questions still linger as to the proper use and placement of biometrics.

Ultimately, the technology could find its strongest role as an intertwined and complementary piece of a multifactor authentication system, rather than a stand-alone single point of defense, says Charles Kolodgy, research manager at IDC, in Framingham, Mass.

"Authentication is something you have, something you know, and something you are when you add biometrics," Kolodgy explains. "I think right now users see [authentication methods] as separate items. The technology is there, but the idea is not."

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In the future, Kolodgy foresees biometrics both playing a key role in enabling PKI (public key infrastructure) deployment by protecting public and private keys and residing in smart card and token technology in an effort to support personalized Web e-commerce.

Companies turning to biometrics to enhance their e-business systems hope to enhance user verification while maintaining customer satisfaction and accuracy. Many of those customers are discovering that biometrics products are becoming more flexible, capable of serving different purposes, or being used in tandem, accomplishing more than authentication.

Protecting data

With millions of streams of customer data traveling across its Web hosting systems daily, heightened security at a co-location facility is a must. But that strict level of authentication must be tempered with ways for customers and employees to navigate unimpeded in the caged enterprise, gaining instant access to targeted machines during an outage or problem.

Choosing to deploy Iridian Technologies' retinal scanning technology in conjunction with fingerprint and hand geometry biometrics features at his company's co-location facility in Vienna, Va., Ted Royster, director of ISX (Internet Service Exchange) security operations of Micromedia Fiber Network (MFN), says the automated result is invaluable.

"Initially, we heard customers wanted more unrestricted access and we noticed they were waiting in line," Royster explains. "Time is of the essence. If [customers] have an outage, then that's lost revenue."

Customers are able to choose which biometrics devices lead up to their assigned area, which houses server farms, monitors, printers, and telecommunications devices, Royster says. Customers are given a permanent ID badge and must pass a fingerprint authentication device at the perimeter of the facility each time they enter.

Biometrics not only provide a sense of control for the individual customers but also offer a clear tracking and auditing system within the MFN facility, Royster adds.

Lone Wolf Software, in Bellflower, Calif., found so much efficiency in using voice recognition vendor Veritel's technology two years ago that the company now has it built into its own employee timecard and attendance software products.

Fred Schmitthammer, president and CEO of Lone Wolf Software, says voice print authentication works in tandem with the timecard system because it protects against employees having someone falsely clock in for them.

"Their password becomes their voiceprint, as opposed to a numeric password from the desktop," Schmitthammer explains. "Biometrics take care of employers' concern that their employees are who they say they are."

Because a PC-based voice print authentication system would not be conducive to some of Lone Wolf's manufacturing clients' loud working environments, the company also offers a hardware-based hand geometry recognition system that acts as both a time clock and access control device.

Stretching voice biometrics to other parts of its business plan, Schmitthammer says Lone Wolf plans to offer an employee-verification phone interface this month and Web browser interface in April to improve both ease of use and convenience.

Hitting the club scene

Biometrics are also finding ways to infiltrate multiple forms of e-business overseas. First envisioned as an entrance control measure to ward off known unruly patrons from dance clubs and nightclubs, Interstrat ICT Group, in Enschede, Netherlands, also instituted a secure payment and loyalty point program with biometrics security technology.

Ron Velders, CEO of Interstrat ICT Group, is using Keyware's biometrics to create an entrance kiosk, called a biomade, that registers guests' faces and facial fingerprints after they scan their club member card.

Once stored, that information is sent to and kept on file by other club facilities in the area. When entering a club, patrons have their faces scanned first, then fingers if the initial identity test is inconclusive.

"People who have something bad in mind don't like to get registered with face and fingerprint, so this is a very discouraging system," Velders says.

Introduced in September, Velder's system originally issued 20,000 cards. During the next four months, the number rose to 300,000 cards. When implementing various biometrics, companies may face the task of managing and monitoring the dissimilar software and hardware components.

Technology independent BioNetrix, in Vienna, Va., works with more than 20 biometrics, smart card, and token partners to design management platforms that tie applications and policies together across interfaces in a central location. The needs of biometrics users will push vendors to work together and create interchangeable software and hardware, says John Ticer, CEO of BioNetrix.

"You will find users doing things that vendors never thought of -- a combination of technologies that is appropriate for every different authentication scenario," Ticer explains.

Biometrics offer many options

By 2004, IDC predicts the biometrics market will expand to $1.8 billion from $166 million in 1999. Customers can create unique security solutions to fit their own needs with one or more of the primary biometrics available today.

• Facial scans require the use of a digital camera to develop a facial image of the end-user for authentication purposes.


• Eye scans are similar to facial scans, but the camera photographs the eye instead of the entire face.


• Fingerprint scans read the fingerprint of the end-user and are popular for network authentication.


• Voice authentication transforms a small recording of the voice into readable text, but is different from voice recognition.

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