Research into new uses of biometrics is
blossoming. Iris and fingerprint scans as well as facial and voice
recognition are just a few of the biometrics tools that can improve
security while making lives easier, biometrics researchers say. Such
biometric security may effectively eliminate the need to create and
frequently change passwords.
Some Purdue University researchers are working on technology
that could see all those passwords that computer users must punch in
replaced with steps such as iris and fingerprint scans.
The basement lab of Purdue University's International Center for
Biometrics Research is where such emerging biometric technologies are
tested for weaknesses before going mainstream.
Iris and fingerprint scans as well as facial and voice recognition are just a few of the tools that can improve security 
while making lives easier, said Stephen Elliott, the center's director.
while making lives easier, said Stephen Elliott, the center's director.
That technology can allow someone to log into a computer or activate a
smartphone simply by swiping their fingerprint over a sensor -- and
eliminate the need to frequently change passwords.
and if that's not enough, look at this ...
Smart Payment Association (SPA) Sets Out Biometric Payment Card Proposals
Tackling fraud and extending banking services to
previously underserved populations are just some of benefits Lorenzo
Gaston, Technical Director of the Smart Payment Association (SPA) will
highlight when he takes the stage on Thursday 21st November 2013 at www.cartes.com to explain why the Time is Now for Biometrics in
Financial Services.
The introduction of biometric cardholder verification represents an
important step forward for the finance industry, opening the way to
eliminating fraud for issuers and cardholders, reducing costs, and
providing the additional security and identity verification required to
support remote or cross-border transactions.
Gaston will review how today's proven biometric technologies deliver the
security, privacy and performance the financial services industry
needs, setting out the SPA position on how biometric Match-on-Card
authentication delivers definitive advantages in terms of security and
data privacy.
Andreas Strobel, President, SPA said: "The introduction of biometrics
authentication would deliver significant benefits in terms of tackling
card payment fraud, extending cardholder verification through the
introduction of an additional validation factor.
Adding biometric functionality to an EMV card has the potential to
facilitate access to financial services for previously hard to reach
populations and opens the way to provisioning a range of services that
require a legally accepted digital signature – from subscribing to a new
financial service through to proceeding with a mobile commerce
transaction or the download and transfer of electronic money."
Lorenzo Gaston will present the SPA position on biometric cardholder
authentication on 21 November at 12.30, during the Biometrics: Privacy
and Security Concerns conference track of CARTES 2013.
In support of CARTES activity, the SPA is announcing the availability of
a whitepaper on Biometrics for Payment Applications which sets out the
SPA vision on financial match-on-card payment and provides a framework
of the guiding principles, specifications and best practices required to
underpin the expansion of biometrics into financial applications.
Download paper at www.smartpaymentassociation.com.
