Gemalto will deliver its Sealys eID card and Coesys Issuance solution to the Ministry of Interior of Uruguay for the country’s eID program; NEC Corporation of America announced that it was awarded a multi-year biometrics service contract with Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

SmartSafe is the latest in a line of wearable that will be able to provide an extra factor of authentication online. The security device is by French startup Ionosys and it encrypts and stores identifying information like passwords and is activated by the owner’s biometric data – a fingerprint and pulse.

Access-IS launched its new Supplemental Access Control compliant devices; FIME announced that its laboratories in Asia, EMEA and Korea have been qualified to perform official NFC Forum analog certification testing; Farpointe Data released a system that protects card-based systems from skimming, eavesdropping and relay attacks; MorphoTrak announced Scott Swann has joined the company as the senior director of innovation for the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Business Unit.

Intel Security announced the limited release this week of True Key – a cross-platform consumer application designed to take the frustration out of remembering passwords.

2014: the year of password breaches, Internet of Things and biometric handsets. True, some of these started earlier, but this year saw these technologies blossom and breaches widen. These are three separate things right now, but they lead up to one thing: the mobile handset as an identifier.

The Winter 2014 issue of Regarding ID magazine looks at the rise of mobile identity; possible revisions to the four levels of assurance; how the airport of the future will identify travelers; a look at PIV-I and CIV; new certification for physical access control and the latest NSTIC pilot winners.

Body recognition biometrics may be the most accurate form of authentication, based on theoretical research conducted at the University of Adelaide. A PhD student used an old online database of body measurements from 4,000 U.S. military personnel to come up with this system. What she found is that a series of large body measurements combined with one another is better than facial recognition.