Security in a busy body!Security in a busy body!

By all evidence, biometrics is coming into mainstream access control. A quick tour around the access control manufacturers at this year's IFSEC left installers in no doubt that fingerprint recognition was not only becoming commonplace among manufacturers' offerings but was dropping in price.

But palmprint, iris scan, vein recognition, facial recognition, voice and even signature recognition have all been featured in Security Installer over the last year and, as they lose their "futuristic" tag, the best of these technologies will increasingly find themselves incorporated into access applications as authentication... even in the domestic sector for our front doors, our cars, mobile phones, and home PC log-ons.

Public acceptance of these technologies is predicted to increase as biometrics becomes part of everyday life via border and passport control, travel tracking, government, policing, and ID card programmes, public transport and in pubs and bars as proof of age (see page 10).

The dual security of a smartcard, fob or access code combined with a fingerprint or iris etc is a convincing combination. Here we detail some of the very latest biometric products and news items that will interest readers...

Confusion in the market

Rapid advances in smart card and biometric technologies and a growing concern over the issues of privacy and data protection have contributed to an environment of expectation, coupled with uncertainty and confusion in this market place, say experts.

The impending entry of the UK public sector as a major smart card issuer, and the recent announcements relating to concessionary entitlements on public transport, have all added to the confusion, says Smartex, a Cambridge based company that operates an international network of professional associations concerned with smart card and tagging. "It is time that these major issues are considered in a structured way, and outside the somewhat secretive atmosphere pervading government deliberations and plans" says Smartex.

On behalf of the Smart Card Club and International Biometric Foundation, it is holding a special round-table event on November 14 to address the aspects of card and biometric scheme implementations where there are real issues or concerns.

For information on Smartex go to www.smartex.com

Sequential fingerprints

FingerPIN is launching a "revolutionary" biometric multi-sequence fingerprint technology said to provide a "sophisticated and infinitely more secure alternative" to existing single fingerprint technologies, passwords, cards and tokens.

The company says that while reading a single fingerprint is cost-effective, quick and convenient, it is accepted that a single fingerprint can be "lifted". Lifting can take place from coffee cups, or anywhere fingerprints are left.

"Indeed, biometric single fingerprint recognition is flawed: the incidence at which a single fingerprint system will fail and incorrectly accept a false input is 1 in 15,000," says the company. However, its own patented technology reduces this false acceptance to "at least 1 in 10 billion".

The technology "dramatically reduces the threat from the theft of a user's fingerprint data. A relatively small investment is needed to bridge the inherent gap between existing fingerprint technologies and a far more sophisticated fingerPIN solution, which offers a more complex and difficult to fool sequential fingerprinting technology."

Existing single fingerprint technologies can be upgraded using the software which transforms an existing single fingerprint system into a sophisticated, multi-fingerprint fingerPIN. The software, demonstrated at Biometrics 2006 last month, is applicable to: access control & time attendance; physical & device access; PC/network security; consumer identification.

Information: www.fingerpin.co.uk

Faster faces

Biometric facial recognition can now match 100,000 per second, says Neurotechnologija.

It says its new Verilock 3DK is fast and highly reliable using standard webcams or security cameras and and now supports Macintosh. It has also made some significant enhancements to the VeriLook algorithm, which now matches 100,000 faces per second. They have also added support for Mac OSX to their existing Microsoft Windows and Linux support.

It can detect multiple faces in a single frame and process all of them simultaneously. Working with any database and any user interface, it gives hardware manufacturers, biometric developers and security system integrators technology that can be used in a wide range of security systems.

Already Lenovoh has announced it is using VeriLook facial recognition in some models of its Webcam-equipped notebook computers.

VeriLook 3.0 provides both 1:1 and 1:many matching modes, and when compared to VeriLook 2.0, the new version provides significant advantages. Template extraction time is three times faster. When set to the same False Acceptance Rate levels, the False Rejection Rate (FRR) in VeriLook 3.0 has decreased by up to 50per cent compared to the previous version.

For a list of distributors go to: www.neurotechnologija.com

Palm of your hand

Users are identified by their palm prints with the Rimax Staff On Time Palm Scan. The unit from Databac is a contactless solution for access control and time and attendance for up to 2,100 users.

It is said to be "ultra reliable, highly secure, easy to operate and very user friendly". It has a false negative ratio of less than 0.1 per cent and can be mounted in a hermetic terminal for outdoors use that is vandal proof, weather proof and totally hygienic (an important consideration during times of crisis situations such as the SARS outbreak).

Palms are simple held up to the reader. The unit reads the lines, scars, wrinkles and folds on the surface of the palm and uses them to build a map unique to the user. Three variations are available: Palm Scan Window, Palm Scan Indoor and Palm Scan Outdoor. The Window version has ten ultrasound (contactless) keys, which can be programmed to identify activities like lunch breaks in time and attendance applications or to add pin codes for access control.

Palm Scan Indoor is the same but has standard keys which need to be pressed. Palm Scan Outdoor features the reader only. Palm Scan offers an affordable biometric solution and is "three times cheaper than iris technology" says Databac. "Being contactless, there are no greasy finger marks to put users off scanning their palm. It's glamourous. And, most important of all, it's extremely secure and reliable. When used with a password, possibility of a false positive is virtually nil. When used with a smart card, the possibility simply does not exist," said Charles Balcomb, MD.

More information: www.databac.com

Detective calls

A4Vision's 3D Face Reader has been integrated with IDL's Fastlane Door Detective to showcase a complete approach to high security access control.

The A4Vision Access 3D Face Reader can recognise users as they approach the doorway. With read ranges up to two metres and a fast sub-second response time, the Face Reader is designed to open the door before the user gets to it. This is when Door Detective kicks in and monitors how many people actually go through the doorway once it's opened.

If more people go through than are authorised by the Face Reader, Door Detective will send an alarm to alert security and can trigger high responses such as CCTV to record the events for later analysis

More information on 3D facial recognition at www.a4vision.com

Face identified in 0.3 seconds

Panasonic's next generation of iris recognition reader, the BM-ET200, is smarter, more user-friendly and five times faster with "unparalleled accuracy", says the company.

The cost-effective unit can capture and identify a user in 0.3 seconds and can integrate with other access control products.

It can operate within large scale applications or in stand alone mode, utilising a USB port from which information can be stored and transferred securely. It provides unique design characteristics coupled with "unparallel capture speeds" and simple user interface.

Two mirrors mounted on the front panel ensures the position of the eyes are aligned. Voice guidance via a speaker on the front provides operational guidance and recognition results which can be set in 14 different languages including English, French, German, Japanese and Swedish with three user settings of simple, full and mute. A distance indicator lamp guide assists users and the unit also features tamper alarms.

Admin servers track and monitor access to and from the restricted area and it has the ability to search the record log via time alone. This enables users to pinpoint who was within the designated area at a given time, should an incident occur.

With a false acceptance rate of just 1 in 1.2 million, the BM-ET200 is said to be the "ideal for those seeking the ultimate in high level security" and is suitable for a range of applications such as airports and entry/exit control for warehouses, head offices and hospitals.

Up to 3000 users

Videx Security has added the BioAccess finger print reader to its 4000 Series modular door entry range.

The reader is a thermal swipe sensor with dry contact relay outputs and serial communication ports compatible with industry standards. BioAccess can store readings of either 1000 or 3000 users with up to five fingerprints for each user depending upon which module is specified.

Programming is carried out via buttons on the back of the reader or from a PC. Both audio and visual symbols are provided while programming. Recognition time is less than one second.

More information: www.videx-security.com