The American Chemical Society (ACS) has announced the development of a new biometric keyboard that can identify users by the way they type. Not only that, but the keyboard’s developers, who were funded by the US Department of Energy, also note that the keyboard has a self-cleaning coating, and can use the energy produced by the act of typing to power itself, or even another small device.
The research team that developed the keyboard, led by Zhong Lin Wang, wanted to develop a unique means of user authentication that didn’t rely on increasingly vulnerable password-based systems. So their new “smart keyboard” can identify users by a combination of behavioural patterns, including how much pressure is applied to its keys, and how quickly the user types.
It’s part of what may be a nascent trend that might fall under the category of behavioural biometrics. Last year, a similar product was designed by a Raytheon engineer; it was a computer mouse that could identify users based on the unique grip of each individual. More recently, though, we’ve seen how people’s unconscious behaviours can be used to identify them simply by their online activity, as in the authentication systems developed by NuData and BioCatch. It’s an intriguing concept that allows for ‘passive authentication’, letting users verify their identities without even having to think about it.
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January 22, 2015 – by Alex Perala
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