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In the US, a case is underway against Philip Cummings, who along with others, stole identities of up to 30,000 people.
Wow. That's a lot of people.
And to think - this was a third party company that this guy worked for and ultimately stole from. One that as a consumer, you don't really have much control over as to whether they have your information and for how long. People would go into their bank, ask for a loan, and the bank would then call up the help of Teledata, who would provide a credit report from any or all of the three credit history bureaus.
Waiting there at Teledata in the help desk, was little Cummings, antsy to make some free money off of you.
He could face up to 50 years in prison. Hopefully he gets everything that's coming to him, as a sort of 'look-out-other-would-be-theives-this-will-be-you' gesture.
Ex-Teledata employee pleads guilty in massive ID theft case.
The Department of Defense sponsored a conference back in August that talked all about physical security as it relates to biometrics and the common access card. A hands-on approach to making anyone interested aware of what is going on and what's planned to go on.
Here are the Powerpoint presentations from that conference - a few directly biometrics related.
The Identity Management Physical Security Conference 2004.
This might be a stretch, but anyone interested in port/ship security that resides in or around Washington DC (or is interested SO much they would fly there), can look into this conference coming up on October 18 & 19.
Defense Today has a series of Homeland Security Conferences at The George Washington University. This particular one, Maritime Domain Awareness: Integrated Sensor Strategies for Port/Ship Security, will cover a bit of biometrics.
Biometrics, access control, chem/bio detectors and RFID/container security technologies.... to be exact.
Microsoft is making me mad. Here are things they've done in chronological order, see if you can determine what it could be:
1) They announce they will be making a huge effort to enhance Windows security, and focus more on security as a whole.
2) They announce new keyboards and mice, including some with fingerprint biometrics.
3) They say that the biometrics should NOT be considered a security enhancement.
My thoughts:
1) They lead everyone to believe it is part of their security efforts anyways.
2) By saying this about the technology (no doubt to 'play it safe') they could be diluting the understanding of the consumer that biometrics are a good security enhancement. Like one reviewer notices, it doesn't seem valuable to purchase a high priced keyboard or mouse because it has the fingerprint sensor just for convenience.
3) Besides, they're getting all the glory just because they're Microsoft. Biometrics in this capacity have been around for a good while. Hello!
The Biometric Consortium Conference is around the corner, and here is the scoop:
The final program for the Biometric Consortium Conference 2004 is now available on-line here.
The Biometric Consortium Conference is being held 20-22 September in Washington DC at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City. The Conference features over 90 speakers from government, industry, and academia. Also, 75 technology exhibits related to biometrics will be displayed. A special track is dedicated to Research topics and includes a poster session to allow personal interaction with leading researchers. We anticipate about 1000 attendees at the Conference.
The registration fee for the Conference is $400 and includes all conference materials, sessions, exhibits, refreshments, lunches, and a light reception on Monday evening.
Featured speakers include the Hon. Asa Hutchinson (Under Secretary for Border & Transportation Security, Department of Homeland Security), David M. Wennergren, (Department of the Navy Chief Information Officer), James Woolsey (Former Director of Central Intelligence).
Sessions will focus on programs in the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, Department of Justice, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Other sessions will focus on biometric technology, interoperability, identity theft prevention, and successful
implementations of biometrics.
On-line registration will be available on the Conference web site through Monday, 13 September. On-site registration will also be available, starting with early registration 5:00pm-7:00pm on Sunday, 19 September.
More information about the conference is available here.
Sorry for the lull. We're back in the game now, starting with this one:
The Philippine's US Embassy has begun fingerprinting visa applicants as part of the next stage of US-VISIT. These are for new visas, but once an existing visa needs to be renewed then their time will come as well.
The article even comes with a dandy little cartoon. Know of any more cartoons jeering and/or cheering biometrics? Send them our way!
