Helston College is introducing a new biometric fingerprint system for children as a cashless method of paying for lunch.
The fingerprint scanner system will be completed and running on the 14th November. One difference of this system is that it will require a parent to give consent to use their child’s biometric data.
The school are reassuring parents in every way that the system is of their best interests too. The Headteacher Pat McGovern has written a letter to parents assuring that all information of the children will remain within the school.
“The biometric information taken is an algorithm and not the actual finger print,” he said, in order to prevent parents from fearing that their children were being “fingerprinted.” It is unfortunate that biometrics has received an unfair portrayal in this light as the system is much more secure than other methods of identification. This is Helston’s reasoning for providing such extensive reassurance for parents of the system.
Parents are also able to opt-out of the system and children will be provided with another identification method such as a four digit PIN code. The school do not want to force this method upon parents until parents are comfortable.
Mr McGovern said: “The preference of the college is to use biometrics as this is more secure and faster than other methods of identification.”
Biometric Fingerprint Readers are an increasing security feature within UK School and this growth is expected to continue.
Japanese technology giant Sony filed for a patent in May earlier this year, where it was discovered that the company intends to know just who their products’ users are through gaming entry systems. The brand is working on new user identification and tracking technology to store biometric data in it’s yet to be released Playstation 4 console.
It’s unclear exactly how the technology would work, but the patent mentions various sensors like “fingerprint readers, hand sensors, face recognition systems, voice pattern analyzers, and DNA analyzers”.
The technology being proposed addresses issues such as determining whether the person logged in to an account is actually the real account holder, piracy issues, security related factors, as well as pushing targeted advertising. Sony’s patent has been titled, “Process and Apparatus for Automatically Identifying User of Consumer Electronics,” where it describes the incorporation of fingerprint sensors which would be able to let it read some biometric data of its users on different devices including smartphones, keyboards and gaming controllers. This particular patent’s abstract reads, “A user of a device may be uniquely identified using a metric that is contingent upon the user using the device for its intended purpose without the user having to perform a separate step, function or operation for the express purpose of identifying the user.” Games that react differently to individual gamers does sound like a plausible and good “excuse” to implement this in future game consoles. Images in the patent application indicate that instead of just using the typical fingerprinting technology that won’t be able to determine the user after logging in, by using a set of appropriate biometric sensors such as fingerprint sensors, hand sensors, facial recognition system, iris and retinal scanners, voice patterns, and DNA analyzers, it would be able to determine the user even after logging into the account.
At ievo we think this could bring gaming up to a completely new level of interactivity and customisation. Although at present, it appears to be more of a concept on paper and =something that is still in the early stages of development.
The Underground nightclub in Dundee, Scotland, recently installed biometric fingerprint scanners for first time visitors to prove they are of age to enter in a bid to improve security. For subsequent visits, customers of the nightclub are identified by scanning their fingerprint.
The club is run by G1 Group PLC, who introduced the fingerprint system after a successful trial period in its Glasgow club. The system is used to verify that identification presented is real.
Fingerprints gathered, together with photo-based profiles, are stored in computers in the club. Having this technology makes it easier for the management to identify troublemakers, and scan foreign passports and driving licenses before allow entry to the club.
A spokeswoman from G1 Group said : “The system recognizes most international passports and driving licenses, meaning we can accept overseas visitors into our venues, adhering to the Challenge 25 policy.”
Challenge 25 is a retailing strategy in the United Kingdom that encourages anyone who is over 18 but looks under 25 to carry acceptable ID (a card bearing the PASS hologram, a photographic driving license or a passport) if they wish to buy alcohol. Some patrons have opposed the scheme, stating ensuring they have identification is a hassle. The integration of biometrics in clubs will therefore aim to minimise the need for proof of identification.
G1 Group said the biometric data they collect are not shared with third parties, except with the police if are conducting a criminal investigation within their clubs. The information is encrypted and stored securely at the premises. This therefore presents an additional benefit of the entry system for assisting local police to prevent crime in clubs more effectively.
“The access control system helps ensure that all G1 venues are safe for our customers, and allows us to go the extra mile to make sure we are preventing under-age drinking and the use of false ID.”
ievo love to see biometrics moving into new markets.
Biometric finger scanners might be the new solution for students who frequently forget or lose their CATcards.
Tim Lewis, associate director for campus recreation, thought of the idea when trying to find a way that would grant students access into buildings without having their CATcards through the access control system.
“Because there is only one other school in the nation that we could find utilizing biometric finger vein scanners, we were nervous about the functionality and ease of using this technology,” Lewis said.
The Biometric fingerprint reader uses near-infrared light through a camera to identify each student’s unique veins.
Lewis said he felt more comfortable that he made the right decision about the project when he saw the positive response coming from faculty and students.
“I am excited to admit we couldn’t be happier with the scanners,” he said “They have performed to our expectations through the first few weeks of school.”
The scanners are installed in the Patrick Gym, where students can use the biometric devices to register their ‘identity’.
Nicole Todd, assistant director of campus recreation has seen a positive response thus far.
“From what we’ve seen this first week of the semester, the students, faculty and staff have been really excited about the scanners,” Todd said. “Aside from the ‘wow factor’ that comes with new technology, it allows an alternative door access method.”
The fingerprint reader will take two to five minutes to register a student’s identity in the computer. Once the student has registered it will only take two seconds to scan into the gym.
Junior Rachael Haab was optimistic about this new technology.
“I feel like it’s a lot better because you don’t need your CATcard, which makes going to the gym easier,” Haab said.
ievo will have more very exciting news to post about biometrics in gyms very soon!
Today we celebrate 100 days until the Olympics and to commemorate biometric logging for Nigerian Olympians has commenced. The project began last week at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.
In his welcome address, British Deputy High Commissioner, Peter West said that the London 2012 Games – and this summer – will be a proud moment for Britain “We will be staging what we’re determined will be the best Olympics ever” Peter added that the Deputy High Commission was at the Stadium to provide biometric facilities to those Nigerian Olympic athletes who train at the venue and to accompanying officials from the Nigerian Olympic Committee.
He also added that he wanted to make the biometric device as straightforward as possible which will help speed up the processes for Olympians and their families when they arrive to the UK for the games in late July.
We have already discussed the biometric impact for the Olympics in another blog post, as news broke that fingerprint recognition and facial scanning will be used to identify those coming into the country especially for the games.
ievo manufacture security products, namely fingerprint readers for internal and external environments. To view the ievo fingerprint scanner range visit www.ievoreader.com
Recently, scandal has been prominent within the world of journalism, and not just stories that have been circulating about celebrities, but of course..security! The phone hacking debate has been stirring for years, but only within the last six months or so it has boiled over board. Every day we hear of another innocent family or troubled celebrity that have fallen victim to phone hacking. But, have you ever wondered how it actually happens? Well, after trawling the internet for an explanation, we’ve found one! Not that we need to worry, but then again, who knows? Perhaps us unsuspecting biometric manufacturers or fingerprint system installers could be hacked right now…
What’s really being discussed is illicit access to voice mail messages. There are a number of possible methods to gain access to someone’s voice mail illicitly. In the UK at least, given the original police inquiry into the News of the World scandal, mobile network operators improved their security mechanisms to increase protection of users. The good thing is, you can test out these mechanisms yourself. If your operator hasn’t taken steps to close down the basic loopholes, ring them and tell them!
A lot of the problems that arose in the voicemail scandal arose from the use of well-known default PINs for voicemail access. In fact, you as a customer may never have used a PIN for accessing your voicemail. That is because on most mobile phones, the network recognises that it is your phone calling in and makes life more convenient for you. So you would never even think that someone could access your voicemail by just dialling a number and entering a well-known default PIN.
These PINs can be found across the web – they naturally needed to be publicised to customers so they knew how to get remote access if they wanted. This was one of the mechanisms allegedly used by the News of the World ‘phone hackers’ to get access to people’s voice mails without their knowledge. If you’d never setup a PIN, the attackers would get in via well publicised default PINs. If they came up against someone who was using their own PIN, they would then use social engineering techniques to trick the operator into resetting the PIN to the default.
Another not-so-well-known method of accessing voice mail is to actually call your own mobile number.
Claims about the voicemail hacking scandal say that one journalist would call up a celebrity to engage the phone while another would then go into the voicemail using this method. This seems pretty likely as a lot of celebrities’ phones are looked after by personal assistants, not the celebrity themselves so it could look fairly legitimate to call up the PA.
One of the security measures that have been introduced is to notify the customer more often by SMS when something goes on that they should know about. Remember that if a third-party was accessing your voice mails remotely, you as a customer wouldn’t normally get to know that anyone had been there. In some cases, the attackers deleted the voice mails. The type of notifications you could get could tell you that there has been a remote access to your voice mail, that there was an invalid PIN code attempt or that your voice mail PIN has been changed – all useful bits of information!
This is something that has been borrowed from the banking industry. It is a simple, effective early warning mechanism that something could be wrong. Because it shouldn’t happen very often, you shouldn’t be plagued by messages, equally you are the best person to know if it is dodgy activity or not.
However, always be careful with any message you receive. The best thing to do if you are unsure is to ring the customer helpline of your operator who’ll be able to tell you whether the message is genuine.
Sadly, there are always people who want to find out what others are up to, illegally. The methods for doing this are continually evolving. Some of the newer methods involve faking a phone’s displayed number so it can trick access to voicemail. This technique has been used in the USA and recently in the Netherlands to get access to the voicemails of politicians. To block this attack, you need to setup a PIN to access your voicemail. By doing this you prevent automatic access to your voicemail (as if you were ringing from your own mobile).
Explanation provided by Naked Securty
Ievo manufactures access control systems specialising in fingerprint scanners. Both products Ultimate and Micro are available globally. To find out more visit www.ievoreader.com and visit the products page
Detecting a lie has been at the forefront of police and lifestyle television investigations for quite some time. But, for several hundred years now, numerous methods have been used to try and crack an individual into telling the truth, from torture to polygraphs to voice biometrics. But are any of them really successful, and can we really tell if someone is telling the truth or just outright lying?
The tradition began as oath taking prior to testimony which tested peoples moral codes by swearing by the religious gods. Obviously, practices as such still exist today, when a person gives evidence they can swear by the Bible, although not compulsory. The difference between one person telling the truth in the court of law and otherwise might not necessarily be religiously influenced, therefore, other methods have been developed to try and figure out if the subject is fibbing.
The polygraph is still considered the gold standard when it comes to lie detectors. In case you don’t know the exact methodology used, it measures several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration and skin conductivity, while the subject is asked a serious of questions. Although based on psychology, the method uses scientific methods, to produce a quantifiable statistic.
An interesting method adopted by many psychologists is the kinesic interviewing technique. Where the interviewers themselves look for specific behavioural techniques which would lead them to believe if the subject is lying or not. Some would say that if the individual looks up and to the left while speaking they are formulating a lie. While a glance in the opposite direction indicates truthfulness. This stems from Neurophysiologists school of thought that certain areas of the brain activate when recalling memories, while others are stimulated when we’re being creative, e.g. lying. The idea is that a lie requires some creative thought, while answering a question truthfully relies only on memory.
However, some interviewers refute this method, saying that you must study the individuals behaviours first before trying to decide whether they are being truthful or not, because you cannot possibly generalise peoples behavioural patterns.
So..what has this got to do with biometrics? Well, people have been trying to figure out what is the best form of lie detector and some would believe that it is voice biometrics. Although these can be used as forms of access control systems, researchers have found that from the subjects voice, computers can analyse variations in speaking, pitch, volume, tempo and syntax to determine the questions answered are truthful, or even if the individual is stressed, angry or drunk!
Okay, so when voice recognition is used in entry systems, it won’t be detecting if what your saying is a lie or if you are in a particularly bad mood that day. But it is interesting to think that our voice actions can be analysed in order to create an assumption about ourselves.
However, the best method is probably an excellent interviewer. Wouldn’t everyone love to be able to differentiate between a lie or truthful statement. Albeit, it could cause problems at home or in the workplace. But then again, a little white lie here and there does nobody any harm.
IBM have recently revealed its ’5 in 5 report’ five technological advances within the next five years which will change the way we function in society. The futuristic projects range from controlling electronics with your mind to biometrics becoming a major part of our everyday lives.
First – Soon all we will have to do to power up an electronic device is think about it. By devices we mean, phones, emails, ovens and other certain appliances. The individual will not have to say or do anything. This would be a major advancement to a quadriplegic or paraplegic whose lives could potentially change because they may eventually live without full or part time support from a carer. Gadgets like this are already under-way, albeit in a very minor scale. The Wii and X-Box are both able to be controlled by the users motions, so keeping this in mind, perhaps it doesn’t seem too far fetched that one day our brains could be the controller.
Second – We will be able to power electronics using energy cultivated from activities like walking, running or exercising. This is formally known as micro-electronic generation. A certain motion sensor kept in sole of your shoe could charge a battery that can connect to a power grid, to access a smart-phone or other appliance dependant on a battery. Again, this seems likely. Nike are able to track a users steps and motions and convert it into quantifiable data for the user to assess their calorie consumption and loss. So perhaps, yes in five years time this also could be possible.
Third – Biometrics will over-take the use of passwords in our everyday lives. This is probably the most likely scenario out of all five that seems the most possible. The reason being, biometrics have been around for a long time, and not just as a form of security but access control to track people’s whereabouts at work. An earlier Ievo blog-post assessed the mainstream of biometrics in 2012 which in our opinion, won’t happen, but in 2017.. fingerprint recognition especially will become a major part of our lives, from ATM’s to paying for our groceries at the supermarket.
Fourth – Better technology will exist to prevent unwanted emails. Everyone has certain patterns when it comes to emailing, or so IBM believe. The software will track how you interpret certain emails and after it learns your emailing habits, it will automatically delete them. This seems a little bit utopian, as we all get those emails we hate or don’t want, but is it a possibility? Well, perhaps so, as it picks up on individual behaviour instead of generalising everyone collectively.
Fifth – the ‘digital divide’. There will be no more, ‘those who have and those who have not’ people will be able to connect with anyone, no matter where they are, no matter what language they speak and at any time. Communication will be completely open. Will this be the end of the ‘us and them’ dilemma around the world? We will have unlimited access to anyone, anywhere without any presumptions or hesitations.
To see more of Ievo blog posts, visit www.ievoreader.com/blog
The topic of discussion this week in the Ievo office was the humorous story of ‘bottom biometrics’ that have been developed in Japan’s Institute of Industrial Technology. We thought that maybe due to our Micro product launch rush we had been seeing things and actually had a bit of a joke about the whole thing. But actually, it’s not a spoof! Amazingly, these sensors do exist. Yet not exactly in the context you’re thinking of.
It goes like this. Much in the same way as fingerprint biometrics, it has been developed to protect and secure. But what it is securing is your seat, say for example in an office. Apparently, and according to the aforementioned biometric manufacturer it ‘grants access’ by measuring the contours and the weight that is put on the seat, it can identify a person with 98% accuracy. Which when you think about it is an okay percentage for a newly developed entry system product.
One must be considering, why would someone want their office seat secured. Well, it’s been developed, so that according to the pressure and contours on the seat it will allow the individual access onto their computer. But what is more interesting is how this could be developed to do something other than to secure. What about personalization. For example, have one of these sensors on a car seat and when the user sits down, their own personal stylised atmosphere will begin. For example, the satnav could speak to you by name, your favourite radio station could turn on and finally, your preferred temperature setting enabled. Wouldn’t that be an easy lifestyle?
But, don’t these functions exist anyway? So, whatever this special biometric system will be used for, at least it has provided us with a little fun and sneak peak into the strangely unknown.
What is your opinion on the back scatter body scanners currently being used in Manchester airport? Whatever it is..do you know about the recent health concerns over using them? On top of all the other limitations these ‘scanners’ seem to have including invasion of privacy, disruption cultural or religious beliefs now industry specialists are telling us that they may pose major health concerns. Security system companies that manufacture this product are thought to fetch about £80,000 in a way to dramatically reduce the risk of terror invasion. It is thought that the dose of x-ray that the individual has been subjected to equivalent to less than two minutes of flying in an air line at cruising. So then again, what is the big deal?
The full body scanners in Manchester
In a report by Dr David Brenner of Columbia University Medical Centre New York claims that it may cause cases of cancer for 100 more Americans each year. After hearing this, are you concerned? Perhaps not about the health risks considering the research suggests it is less than that of flying, then maybe more about privacy concerns. Only 14 out of the 3 million people that have been ‘scanned’ in Manchester have declined and this has been mostly because of religious or cultural beliefs with only a handful because of health. A lot of controversy has surrounded entry access systems, in particular the biometric kind because of privacy concerns. Mostly fingerprint sensors because these have been used by authorities in the past. However, without the correct training and information, one would definitely believe that fingerprint access is being stored. But it’s not! That is why perhaps it is best if airports explain the security system to the passengers and customers before flying. That way, they will not feel violated or concerned for their health. The report is to be released next March and from then it will be decided what the outcome entails. Even though the Manchester airport has been given permission to use them until November 2012. At least we know that we are being protected against terror threats and until we receive the full story don’t doubt the usage of them because ultimately they are there to protect..what would happen if they weren’t there?
