Government ID, Smart Cards, Identification and Authentication

The biometric battle

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Biometric ID cards have recently received heat for whether they truly are the best security solution to identity theft. In an article on timesofmalta.com, the biometric ID card is compared to standard credit cards in terms of vulnerability and risk to data breaching.

The biometrics are electronically read and converted to a sequence of ones and zeros and sent to an authenticator to be compared with the sequence on file in the database. The argument remains how a series of numbers on a credit card, which has been stolen many a time, is all that different from a series of numbers making up a digital fingerprint.


Debaters are taking it a step further to say that while credit card companies have the ability to issue someone a new card number, an individual can’t exactly get new fingerprints if their information is stolen.

Protests in the US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the U.K. have deterred plans for ID card introduction. Current plans were predicting more than 85% of the worlds would utilize biometric documentation by 2012. [end] 

Multimodal biometric security provider ImageWare Systems Inc. has released version 2.0 of its Biometric Engine (BE) physical security identification product.

This product is designed for airports, seaports and other critical points-of-access for government and private enterprises. This update takes into account the SAFE Port Act, which requires foreign shippers to secure cargo being shipped to the U.S. and ensure the identity of those loading it. Shippers must manage this by 2013.

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Massachusetts-based Aware Inc. has announced it’s won three contracts to provide biometrics software and services for three large-scale border management systems in Europe, the Middle East and North America.

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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed and published a new protocol for devices to capture biometric data wirelessly and securely using Web services.

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India’s government has called a truce in the ongoing argument between the Ministry of Home Affairs’s National Population Register (NPR) project and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), reports the Indian Express.

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3M Cogent announced that the U.S. General Services Administration, in accordance with FIPS 201, has certified its MiY-ID Gov biometric access control reader as an approved biometric authentication system standard.

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Key Source International announced GSA approval for it’s biometric keyboard and stand-alone biometric pod. KSI products are approved under FIPS 201 for Federal Employees and civilian contractors.

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