March 23, 2014 – by Peter B. Counter
This week identity management took the forefront of the news as the search for Malaysian flight 370 continued, two separate deployments promised to prevent fraud through citizen enrollment and the Secure Identity Alliance called for greater adoption in government eServices.
The mysterious disappearance of Malaysia flight 370 en route to Beijing highlighted a vulnerability in the current state of biometric border control, as news broke in the event’s wake that two of the passengers on board the 777 Boeing passenger jet were carrying counterfeit biometric passports. Speaking to how biometric eGates and kiosks can help protect against this kind of airline threat in the future, Maxine Most, principal at Acuity Market Intelligence outlined the importance of improving automated border control systems on a global scale.
Proving that you are who you say you are is at the center of a healthy government, and two deployments this week illustrate that point well. Zetes announced that it has won a contract to supply biometric kits to Uganda in order to provide voter registration in preparation for is 2016 presidential election.
Meanwhile, DigitalPersona announced that its TSC1 will be used in India to enroll citizens for a great number of possible benefits. The sensor was selected by VisionTek to be integrated into its technology which will in turn allow for citizen enrollment for financial programs and government services. As a side effect of the national ID project, authorities in the region are expected to benefit from the fraud reduction inherent in tying people to their identities.
As seems to be becoming par for the course, business targeted biometric solutions continue to improve in promised quality while also cutting down on the end-user and administrator friction that has historically presented an obstacle in strong authentication adoption.
EnterTech Systems, Suprema’s US operating partner, launched the latest version of its BioConnect application. BioConnect 2.5 still offers simplified template and terminal management, but sports a progressive and nifty new feature: the physical access control management platform now supports smartphone-as-credential factors. This means that in addition to encouraging next gen physical security by making the administrator’s job easier and more efficient, companies are now being given the option of turning BYOD into a cost effective and convenient security solution.
Neurotechnology also announced upgrades this week, but in this case the biometrics company has updated its entire line of products with an improved algorithm.
Over at our sister site Mobile ID World, news of Android Wear has us asking what wearable technology could mean for the future of strong authentication and biometric gaming finds its way into the news yet again.
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