Soon your heartbeat may be used to authenticate your health care records

Fingerprint are the most widely used form of biometric authentication, sometimes layered with iris scan or voice recognition for extra security. A future is not far away where your electrocardiogram (ECG) signals will be encrypted, and then decrypted for authentication and access to your medical records.

Heart ECG signals are received as wave patterns. They are unique to a person, based on one’s heart size, shape, and the orientation of the heart valves. The wave signals stay the same, regardless of how fast the heart is beating. ECG authentication is simpler than other techniques that rely on complex mathematical calculations and access key generation. 

There is one limitation however – one’s ECG signals change as one ages, or if one develops heart disease. Scientists are working to take these changes into account, and in the process advance the use of the ECG as a primary authentication method.

Many people use fitness monitors to keep track of their steps and heart rate. The next evolution may be wearing a device that monitors body data for diagnosis or overall health and sends ECG signals to a doctor’s office. The wearer’s EGC signals would also be used to authenticate and allow access to their records online. It’s easy to imagine that knowing their doctor’s awareness and attention is that much closer could give someone with heart disease a feeling of security, and possibly a little more freedom.

Heartbeats May Soon ReplaceFingerprints for Encrypting Information

By Tarun Mittal, Christian Post Contributor, January 24, 2017