Biocryptology, a biometric authentication service that claims to make identity theft “virtually impossible”, had its British launch today at London’s Science Museum.
The system gives the user a portable fingerprint scanner which generates a random number from biometrics, which can be verified by a central service operated by the firm behind the technology, Primary-Net. When taking a fingerprint, the system uses a patented “life detection system” which reads parameters including blood flow, skin and finger temperature to ensure the target is alive. This should prevent attacks using copies of finger prints, as seen on bypasses of the authentication system on Apple’s latest iPhone.
Biocryptology has been piloted, over the last two years, in a range of terminals designed for banks, military systems and immigration. One comercial US pilot was carried out by Nexus USA in Rapid City, with the Biocryptology system provided by a company called Hanscan, which appears to be a predecessor to Primary-Net.
Primary-Net has invested $30 million in the technology, which sees over 8,000 keys generated on a ‘Primary’ device at the sender end. The identity of the user is validated at one of Biocryptology’s three global data centres.
The primary device is individual to the user, and carried by them, to be plugged in by USB, wherever identification is required. For the US trial, the firm developed another device, the Nexus SmartPay, which sits at the sales terminal, has its own fingerprint scanner and can identify multiple people.
Klaas Zwart, chairman of Biocryptology, described the system as “like a total cure for cancer”, but for the Internet.
“We believe Biocryptology will change the world,” Zwart said. “This system will put a total stop to identity fraud… thereby vastly reducing cyber crime.
Zwart wants to take the product everywhere that does authentication, from government logins for benefit systems to buildings access. “It can be applied to everything.”
It’s unclear whether the company will start selling its Primary devices to normal consumers off the shelf. Each device costs $3.99.
No privacy laws would be infringed by the technology, Zwart claimed, as minimal information was collected by the company’s devices, including name and date of birth, on sign-up.
“Nobody will be robbed as there will be nothing to steal or to lose,” he added.
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What a daft idea - can just imagine people carrying around that device then having to plug it in, that's if they have remembered to bring the device with them, then making sure they don't have cold fingers (that's me out except during the summer!) or they are not suffering from low or high blood pressure (difficult at the checkout when you see the bill!)
It is lighter and smaller than your passport, once it is everywhere you won’t need to take it when travelling because your identity will be in the database, so police, customs, banks, ATM, etc. will have public MP terminals where all you need is your finger.