Biometrics

Multi-Service Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for Tactical Employment of Biometrics in Support of Operations

Department of Defense procedures for collecting biometric data are presented in a newly updated manual, which also provides some insight into the military and intelligence applications of such data.

"Biometrics are the measurable physical and behavioral characteristics that can establish and verify an individual's identity," the manual explains.

"Operators currently collect facial images, fingerprints, iris images, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) samples, palm prints, voice samples and associated contextual data (i.e. elements of biographic data and situational information) from individuals encountered during operations."

The data are stored in multiple databases, including the Biometric Identity Intelligence Resource, or BI2R. That system "is designed to provide the DOD, intelligence community, and coalition communities with authoritative, high-pedigree, biometrically base-lined identities, and advanced tools and technologies necessary to analyze, collaborate, produce, disseminate, and share biometric identity intelligence."

Biometrics

German Hacker Replicates German Defense Minister's Fingerprints from Photo!

A short while ago, I posted an article titled "The Biometric Authentication Conumdrum". In that article, I pointed out that biometrics may have problems that were unanticipated by the security professionals advocating for them. Generally, most security engineers have been pressing forward for biometrics as THE solution to our authentication problems. They hold the belief that biometrics are unique to the individual and therefore can not be broken or guessed by hackers. I refute that argument and point out that biometrics may have some very serious security flaws and that the implications could be very dangerous for information security in general.

Biometrics

Two Companies Pioneering the World of Mobile Biometrics

One of the biggest takeaways from last week’s 10th Annual Homeland Security Week conference in Pentagon City, Va., was the fascinating subject of biometrics and the new mobile devices on offer to quickly obtain and analyze personal data from an individual.

Biometrics are technologies that capture and confirm the identity of people by analyzing their physical characteristics and comparing those attributes to records found in a database. And, it’s not just a person’s fingerprint that is examined anymore; biometric technologies can also scan faces, palms, voices, irises and even a person’s DNA.

Two companies spearheading the mobile biometrics revolution are Grabba and Bi² Technologies. The two companies entered into a professional partnership earlier this year and currently manufacture some groundbreaking products and resources that look like they belong in the future – but they’re in use now in numerous professional fields including homeland security and public safety.

Biometrics

NSA will Track Your Smartphone Finger Strokes

Smartphone technology built by Lockheed Martin promises to verify a user’s identity based on the swiftness and shape of the individual’s finger strokes on a touch screen.The mobile device feature, created by Lockheed Martin, verifies a user’s identity based on the swiftness and shape of the individual’s finger strokes on a touch screen. The technology is but one incarnation of handwriting-motion recognition, sometimes called “dynamic signature” biometrics, that has roots in the Air Force.