Datastrip today announced the addition of an optional built-in 3M pixel digital still camera to its DSVII family of mobile biometric identification terminals, equipping users with broad new capabilities such as user enrollment at remote sites, photo-based identity matching of criminal suspects, and photo evidence gathering at crime scenes. These abilities add to the mobile identity verification powers of the DSVII terminals, which include decoding of digital identity documents at any location without a fixed checkpoint as well as on-the-spot matching of live fingerprints to biometric templates.

The camera is seamlessly integrated into the back of the DSVII and sits flush against the housing, with tips that protrude slightly from the case to protect the lens against damage when the unit is put down. It features 24-bit color, flash illumination and preview capabilities, and adds just six-tenths of a pound to the reader’s 2.1-pound base weight. Captured images can be stored and processed on the Datastrip terminal or wirelessly transmitted to backend servers for immediate processing for applications such as facial recognition.

Potential uses include:

• Law enforcement, for taking photos of crime scenes, perpetrators, and body marks such as scars and tattoos for use as evidence or off-line analysis; identifying suspects via real-time facial recognition by comparing the live image to an image stored on the DSVII or a back-end Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS) database accessed wirelessly; and more.
• Field enrollment for biometric ID production, allowing images to be captured at remote sites and then transmitted to a card generation site for printing. The DSVII can also be used to capture fingerprints and biographical information, enabling all enrollment data to be gathered remotely with a single device for efficient handling.
• Data collection for voter registration and other scenarios, using the same strategy described for capturing biometric ID information in the field.

“This new camera option adds important versatility to our DSVII product family while also eliminating the need for law enforcement or security personnel in mobile environments to carry multiple devices,” said Brian Feick of Datastrip. “Multiple operations can be performed from the DSVII and all data can be transmitted in one step, saving time and simplifying identity verification as well as ID card production.”

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BioPassword, Inc., the only software company providing secure authentication and anti-fraud solutions based on the behavioral biometric of keystroke dynamics, today announced the additions of Smart Advisors, LLC, an information technology professional services firm specializing in security solutions for the financial services industry, and Allied Solutions, a leading provider of insurance, lending and marketing products and services to financial institutions and their members for 26 years, to its Premier Partner Program, a comprehensive global channel initiative to dramatically expand adoption of BioPassword products worldwide.

By offering BioPassword’s innovative authentication solution based on the behavioral biometric of keystroke dynamics — the unique way we each type — Allied and Smart Advisors can now address the Internet and enterprise security needs of the financial services industry, including the partners’ customer base of more than 3,500 banking, credit union and insurance companies.

“Partnering with the heavyweights in the financial services industry greatly expands our opportunity to address the two-factor authentication needs of the top banks in the world,” said Dean Bravos, vice president of worldwide channel sales at BioPassword. “With the most easy-to-use and cost-effective approach to multifactor authentication, BioPassword is working with Allied and Smart Advisors to enable financial organizations to reduce fraud, improve consumer confidence online and comply with FFIEC guidelines that include behavioral biometrics and keystroke dynamics as meeting its two-factor authentication requirements.”

The FFIEC has issued strong guidance on implementing multifactor authentication by year-end 2006. Accordingly, 82 percent of respondents to Callahan & Associates’ “2006 Credit Union Technology Survey” (www.creditunions.com/techsurvey) listed online multifactor authentication as a priority for technology spending in 2006, although only eight percent have any of these identity theft and fraud reduction solutions already in place.(1) The result in 2006 mirrors the 2005 Callahan & Associates’ survey in which multifactor authentication/biometrics for member ID was the most frequently named spending category. According to the 2006 survey, credit unions will spend $2.2 billion in multifactor authentication solutions in 2006.

“Electronic fraud, especially account hijacking, is slowing down the adoption of online banking. At the same time, consumers are reluctant to add additional steps to logging on,” said Pete Hilger, executive vice president at Allied Solutions. “To improve consumer confidence and expand the marketplace for online banking, financial institutions are eager to deploy an authentication solution that reduces fraud without making the login process cumbersome. BioPassword provides the best of both worlds.”

Unlike other authentication offerings, BioPassword does not require the installation and use of expensive hardware devices such as tokens, fingerprint readers or retinal scanners. As a software-only solution, BioPassword provides the lowest cost of ownership (TCO) for the highest level of security and can be quickly deployed through integrations with Microsoft Active Directory and with Citrix environment for local or remote access.

Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc., one of the world’s leading suppliers of innovative computer products including hard disk drives, peripherals and biometric security solutions, and Softex Incorporated, a market leader in biometric/smart card enabled security software, today announced that the Fujitsu PalmSecure(TM) biometric authentication device will be supported by Softex’s OmniPass software application for environments that require dual-layer identity management and authentication for secure data access. With this powerful combination, a complete high-security biometric solution is now available for both client and enterprise level applications.A leading provider of innovative security software products and solutions for computing devices, Softex has shipped over five million units of its OmniPass software worldwide. The OmniPass software easily integrates with biometric devices to manage passwords and secure data in a world where using only passwords for authentication is becoming less secure despite more stringent rules such as 90 day expirations as well as length and character requirements. Implementation of the software application allows for secured login and encryption and decryption of files, all without needing passwords.

With the integration of the OmniPass software alongside the high degree of security of vein pattern recognition, the PalmSecure sensor will be effectively positioned as a key component in the healthcare, government, and financial industries where strict regulations demand the latest in data protection and authentication.

“OmniPass is a powerful tool to help manage passwords and identities,” said Joel Hagberg, vice president, marketing and business development, Fujitsu Computer Products of America. “With OmniPass, the adoption of our PalmSecure sensor is expected to grow beyond our already successful international deployments to banks, universities, hospitals and private residences.”

The PalmSecure/OmniPass solution creates more secure environments by requiring users to prove their identity using their palm vein pattern. First, the users register their vein pattern against their access credentials where identities can be tracked and mapped to their provisioned applications. Subsequent scans are compared to the registered pattern and when a match is made, access is granted.

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West Midlands Police is to trial an identity authentication system that will allow both physical and digital access to police systems, with the projected replacement of warrant cards with chip-and-pin smart-cards.

Police officers and civilian staff will be granted access to buildings and computer systems using a single sign-on card. An initial pilot scheme will start at the end of September and run for three months.

“It’s all about restricting access to a door or an application in an efficient way,” said Fred Tracey, user support manager for West Midlands Police.

The technology behind the scheme is being provided by two companies. Access management company Imprivata won the tender to provide the data-management hardware and software, while Enline will provide the physical access systems.

Access data will be managed through a box that co-ordinates the police databases and Web services, and contains the data-management operating system.

“It allows the administration of Web-based information through a GUI,” said Geoff Hogan, business development manager for Imprivata. “Information is encrypted on the databases and over the [police intranet].”

The West Midlands Police network is connected to the Internet through a hosted site with five firewalls, according to Tracey. Fingerprint biometrics on keyboards and a biometric fingerprint reader on the West Midlands Police computer room will be implemented.

Once a person is registered as being in the building, anyone attempting to use their identity to access information from a different location can be restricted.

Read more at ZDNet.

3VR Security, Inc., the pioneers of searchable surveillance, today announced a new standard for intelligent video management across the enterprise. 3VR Version 5.0 is the industry’s first video surveillance platform to federate facial surveillance data enabling face watchlists, alerts, and searches across distributed systems. Version 5.0 also includes an API enabling integration and search of data across 3rd party systems like transaction management, POS, and access control. Other new features include enterprise system health monitoring, expanded video input support, and smaller, quieter hardware.”The largest drivers of loss, vulnerability, and operational cost stem from the inability effectively manage systems and share the critical intelligence across distributed environments,” said Stephen Russell, CEO of 3VR Security. “With Version 5.0, shared watchlists and federated searches can be deployed to stop suspects wherever and whenever they strike.”

Building on existing features, Version 5.0 expands 3VR’s leading facial surveillance features to include single-click publishing of watchlists and instant searches across distributed systems. The new API available in 5.0 allows users to search not only video data like people, objects, and activity, but also data from 3rd party systems. For retail banks this means linking faces to transactions across branches, even if a suspect assumes a false identity.

Other new features in Version 5.0 include:

“A unified, 360-degree view of user activity across physical and logical systems is a frequently neglected milestone in physical and logical integration,” noted Mark Diodati, Identity and Privacy Strategies Analyst for Burton Group. “Organizations interested in this milestone require a physical security event monitoring mechanism that can index activity, identify users, and integrate into their logical security event correlation systems.”