French airline, Air France, has begun a trial of contactless smart cards with passenger biometric data to allow for expedited check-in, according to a UK Register article. The system is in place at automated gates that enables the passenger to pass when the card information matches the sample given by the passenger. The traveler submits […]

The Smart Card Alliance will present a panel discussion on why enterprises planning converged physical and IT access control can benefit by following the federal government’s model at ISC West, April 1 though April 3 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas. Alliance members will also demonstrate various technologies in the exhibit […]

Validity Sensors, a biometrics developer specializing in fingerprint authentication, has announced that it has received a commitment for up to $10 million in financing from its current investors. The investment was necessary to expand to Validity’s 2008 release of the VFS201 fingerprint readers that were embedded in many HP and Acer notebooks. Now the company […]

New UK-based biometrics distributor, Simply Biometrics, has announced that it is focusing offerings on biometric solutions for physical access control and time and attendance systems. Though the company plans on focusing on the two markets, it is intending to utilize multiple different modes of biometrics including fingerprint, iris, vascular, hand geometry and facial recognition authentication. […]

ActivIdentity Corp., a provider of strong authentication and credential management, announced that Dutch bank SNS Bank has selected ActivIdentity’s solution to secure access to the bank’s corporate facilities and IT resources. Fifty percent of the bank’s workforce requires access to the institution’s trading system, compelling the use of strong authentication and audit trail structure to […]

by David C. Wyld, Southeastern Louisiana University There is no setting in the private or public sectors where a verifiable “chain of custody” is more essential – or more lacking – than the handling of evidence in criminal cases. In the United States, the legal system is dependent on the proper handling of all forms […]

By Andy Williams, Associate Editor Television shows like HBO’s The Wire and Homicide: Life on the Street depict Baltimore as a gritty city. While the shows are fiction, crime is a real concern and Johns Hopkins University is testing a system that detects gunshots in an effort to help keep the campus safe. The gunshot […]