onClick Biometrics in touch

Visa-waiver countries in on the US-visit action

The US-VISIT program has been getting a whole new rash of coverage in the last few weeks since the inception. The first go around was only for select countries, but now the visa waiver countries have to be a part of it too, and so they are of course acting like it's a whole new deal. Which it is. To them. We already know what's going on.

But if you live in Andorra, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, or the United Kingdom, you might find this useful.

Q&A Fingerprinting foreigners.
As of September 30, most foreign travellers entering the US will be subject to the requirements of what is called the US-visit scheme.

UK hospitals get a nation-wide makeover

Wow. Here's a big move. The UK is going to put biometric readers in every hospital and doctor's surgery. The have this thing called National Health Services, and they want to make sure that the people who are contributing are the only ones that are benefiting.

``We're going to start off by building biometrics into the things we've got, building biometrics into passports, into driving licenses,'' Blears said. ``We think that this technology will be there right across the world, so we want to be at the forefront of this.

Biometric technology in the UK will likely spread across banks, post office, government offices, real estate agents and lawyers.
UK to put biometric readers in all hospitals, Blears says.

CSI computer security webcast

So there's a webcast by CSI tomorrow about that survey they did outlining computer security crime statistics. The one that was called the 2004 CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey.
It's at 9am PT and 12pm ET. It's free.
Go here to register.

Privacy International speaks up

Privacy International, a London-based rights group, has problems with US-VISIT. The fact that all these new identifiers are being taken to match against terrorist watch lists has them flustered. It's more focused however, on the fact that the watch list is filled with errors, and this is making it easier to have mis-matches and create trouble for innocent people.
And then of course, since this information is going to be usable among many government agencies, there's the threat that it could be used for anything.
Valid concerns.
New US travel checks flawed, invasive - watchdog.
And from their website - Privacy watchdog raises alarm as the United States prepares for mass fingerprinting.

UK preparing for the security...

IT directors across Europe are bracing themselves for the introduction of biometric technology in the office. An Hitachi Data Systems' survey found that 65 per cent expect to see iris scanning and fingerprint recognition systems introduced in the near future. Nearly half, 44 per cent anticipating the technology being implemented within two years, and a very excitable five per cent expect deployment in the next six months.

Get ready for biometrics at work.

It's all about 3D

Okay - here's the worthwhile article I was looking for.
As the industry gradually grows into itself, there is something to watch out for - 3D facial recognition.

"The biometrics industry is no longer in its infancy," Grant Evans, CEO of A4Vision, told TechNewsWorld. "Vast changes in the marketplace are the driving forces for biometrics." These forces are creating new markets for other forms of biometrics as well. New generations of fingerprint and iris recognition software will provide more reliable solutions than earlier versions, he said.

Biometrics: A security makeover.

A surprising fact today...

This is another one of those "Oh my gosh! Passwords aren't effective anymore?!?!?!" posts. Try to act surprised.
On second thought, because you're being subjected to another one of these redundant articles, I'll go look for something more substantial....
Passwords fail to defend enterprises. (THE HORROR!!!!11!1! :o )

The DoD needs guidance.

The Navy is calling out to all industry professionals for help in deciding the best integration of biometrics into the Department of Defense identity managment program.
The goals of this program were outlined by the CIO:

• Standards-based solutions that meet real world challenges
  
• Personal and role-based credentials
  
• Support of high volumes of transactions
  
• Seamless interoperability with coalition partners, allies and other federal agencies
  
• Integrated identity management procedures for both cyber and physically secure communities
  
• Privacy protection
  
• Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, issued in August, which calls for a policy for a common identification standard for federal employees and contractors

Navy to industry: Help us with biometrics.

You don't need biometrics because you aren't a pilot.

Uh oh - some bad press for biometrics. And since this weblog tries to take a small move away from the normal corporate inclinations we have as a biometric manufacturer, we thought it fair to show you this. And of course, know that you're able to make up your own mind about things.

Research from Gartner presented at the IT Security Summit conference in London said that many security technologies out now aren't necessary. Including biometrics. This is very contradicatory to all the other reports, studies, surveys, opinions, forecasts, projections, diary entries, and dance interpretations that have said that security needs to be priority, and newer tactics need to be in place. No doubt some of that by Gartner themselves.

Well anyways, here it is:

The list of security items a company probably doesn't need within the next five years includes personal digital signatures, quantum key exchanges, passive intrusion detection, biometrics, tempest shielding (to protect some devices from emanating decipherable data), default passwords, and enterprise digital rights management outside of workgroups, according to Victor Wheatman, vice president and research area director at Gartner, based in Stamford, Connecticut.

As a company, you should be able to determine yourself if you need biometrics or any of these other tools on your own merit. Not because you don't employ "airline pilots" or 'stubborn executives', the only good reason to deploy biometrics, obviously.
Avoid security tools you don't need.

Business security spending in 2004

A survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers and CIO magazine, covering 8,000 IT execs in 62 countries found out things. As surveys do. But this one found out things like:

• 64% of companies say security spending will increase this year.
  
• Even though there is a significant amount being allocated for identity management, government and compliance issues are still the priority need for spending.
  
• North American organizations (58%) are more likely to have established appropriate use of the Internet as part of their security policy than organizations in Asia (41%), South America (37%) and Europe (36%).
  
• Data protection, disclosure and destruction are reported as part of organizations' security policies at (51%) of the organizations in North America versus (44%) in Asia, (40%) in Europe and (24%) South America.
  

The State of Information Security 2004.