Accurate Biometrics receives recognition for both growth and service

Accurate Biometrics is doubly pleased and proud – to be recognized both locally, in a Daily Herald Business Ledger article, and nationally, with an Inc. 5000 award.

Accurate Biometrics made the Inc. 5000 list for the first time in 2016 for achieving a 60% growth rate in a 3-year period.

In an interview with the Daily Herald Business Ledger, President Peggy Critchfield stresses how important keeping up with technology is to remain competitive. Accurate Biometrics has gone through three major technological upgrades since their start in 2000.

While largely a B2B business – serving state, local and federal agencies, and private business – Accurate Biometrics is also offering important services directly to consumers. One key service is a complete check of their background records to find and expunge information that is inaccurate or outdated.

It took 13 years to reach their goal of recording 1 million sets of fingerprints. Accurate Biometrics expects to reach their goal of 2 million fingerprints next year.

Accurate Biometrics 2016 INC. 5000 RANK

Itasca's Accurate Biometrics seeks to expand fingerprinting services

 

Daily Herald Business Ledger, Anna Marie Kukec, 8/19/2016

Clearing up misconceptions about fingerprint biometric authentication

This week’s post revisits SmartMetric, whose announcement of smart credit cards with a built-in fingerprint scanner was the second post for this blog. One touch activates the SmartMetric credit card chip. The card can then be used withdraw cash or make purchases.

Introducing new technology can be an uphill climb. In an article this week, SmartMetric addressed misconceptions some people have regarding fingerprint biometric technology.

An example is the concern that one’s fingerprint can be copied and spoofed using a 3-D printer. As SmartMetric points out, in the time it would take to create a replica 3-D fingerprint, a thief can steal a hundred credit cards and associated PIN numbers. It’s theoretically possible, but not likely. Also, SmartMetric’s fingerprint reader is temperature sensitive.

While banks are concerned about the cost of issuing smart credit cards, the cost of fraud – from the actual transaction, to the possible loss of a customer, to the cost of gaining a new customer – is much more significant in the big picture. Annual credit card fraud in the US reached $8 billion dollars in 2014. 

While banks may be hoping that smart mobile devices may become a leading payment method, right now mobile payments represent a small percentage of transactions. One well-known phone company that is encouraging mobile payments is seeing only 3% of its customers making mobile payments. 

Credit cards are not going away any time soon. In SmartMertic’s research, 80% of consumers surveyed are concerned about credit card fraud. SmartMetrics card is the safest card yet, and it works with current ATM’s and credit card readers. Perhaps consumers should be given the chance to be able to use it.


SmartMetric -- Dispelling Misconceptions Regarding Biometrics

Market Wired News Room, August 12, 2016 14:07 ET

Research suggests fingerprint analysis may reveal ancestral background

Anthropologists have studied Type 1 fingerprint characteristics, such as pattern type and ridge counts. Law enforcement fingerprint analysis has focused on more specific Type 2 fingerprint characteristics – ridge ending and bifurcation (splitting into two ridges) – for individual uniqueness.

In a new study, both Type 1 and Type 2 fingerprint characteristics were examined to see if there were differences between the sexes, and also ancestral differences. While there were no significant differences between the fingerprints of men and women, there were significant differences in the Type 2 characteristics of the fingerprints of people with European American or African American ancestry.

More research needs to be done, on a larger and more diverse sample of fingerprints. But the results, if conclusive, will be helpful to law enforcement agencies, adding another layer of analysis in forensic science, and to anthropologists, in the study of global population structures.

Ancestral background can be determined by fingerprints

Matt Shipman for Phys.org, September 28, 2015

Sex, Ancestral, and pattern type variation of fingerprint minutiae: A forensic perspective on anthropological dermatoglyphics

Authors: Nichole A. Fournier, Ann H. Ross

First published: 23 September 2015Full publication history

DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22869

Japan creates Biometric Payment System for travelers with eye towards 2020 Olympics

Japan has created a biometric – fingerprint authenticated – payment system for tourists, partly in preparation for the large increase in visitors expected for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Starting in July, tourists have been able to register their credit card information and fingerprint scans in airports and convenient public locations. This system allows shoppers and diners to pay for good and services quickly and easily.

With the new biometric payment system, travelers make payments with two fingerprints placed on a reading device. Any taxes are automatically deducted. The data will help Japan develop “effective tourism management policies.” Japan is hoping to see the rate of tourism grow to an expected 40 million annual visitors in 2020 with the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

The marketing data will be collected and anonymously saved and analyzed by a “government-led consultative body.”

Privacy and security concerns are always important. Currently participation in the system in not required. For additional security, the system may be refined to include a password as well as fingerprints.


Tourists in Japan to use fingerprints as 'currency' instead of cash

Danielle Demetriou for The Telegraph, Tokyo, April 11, 2016

Japan spearheads biometric payment system to spur inbound tourism

Global Blue Corporate online article Friday, 13 May, 2016

A look at evolving Mobile Device Security

Fingerprints and Password Protection

Fingerprint authentication for mobile devices can be a secure protection, but it’s only as secure as the weakest link in the authentication system. For example, a mobile user downloads a banking app, logs in with a user name and password, and then creates a fingerprint authentication. Fingerprint information is kept locally on the drive. If the user gets a new device, the app is downloaded again and the fingerprint information is recreated.

Passwords are often simple and all too often captured or stolen. With a stolen password, a thief can create a fraudulent fingerprint authentication on a new device.

Banks and commercial enterprises need to continually refine authentication techniques to have “a smart way of knowing” when fraudulent person is attempting to use a mobile device.

Is fingerprint authentication more secure than passwords?

Mickey Boodaei, Transmit Security, Feb 29, 2016

Fingerprinting Computers and Mobile Devices to Prevent Fraud

Device fingerprinting is a way of uniquely identifying a computer, tablet or mobile phone based on characteristics such as browser version, time zone, screen dimensions, plug-ins, etc. Once a device is fingerprinted, unfortunately, it must be blacklisted at least once before it can be blocked from future access.

 This article identifies three areas where device fingerprinting can be improved to enhance fraud prevention:

• As users make changes to their devices, they change the fingerprint of their devices. Fuzzy Matching refers to deciding which changes are noteworthy (such as operating system) and which are okay to ignore (such as browser fonts). Fuzzy matching is used to determine if the device fingerprint is the essentially the same, or a different fingerprint is being used with a mobile app.

• Reverse Engineering to help defend against hacker programs created to spoof the signals of users (to mimic a victim’s computer, or to hide the thief’s digital tracks) and circumvent fraud detecting fingerprinting technology.

• Predictive Modeling will eliminate the problem of having to have a device blacklisted once before being able to block fraudulent access. Predictive modeling will identify when a device will be used to commit fraud even if it hasn’t been used fraudulently before. Fraudulently used devices often have patterns in their set of signals. A smart app, when opened, will identify a suspicious device and block usage before a fraudulent act is committed.

3 ways device fingerprinting must evolve to prevent fraud

Rahul Pangam, Network World, Jul 22, 2016

An update on the FBI's Iris Scan Biometric Database

Eye scan data use not new, it’s currently used by the military and private security companies. What is new is the development of a comprehensive database of eye scans by the FBI. The FBI’s iris scan pilot program started in 2013 with over 30,000 arrestee records. The biometric database is at 430,000 and counting.

Existing scans were gathered with info sharing agreements from the US Border Patrol, the Pentagon and local law enforcement in states that have been collecting and storing iris scans, including California, Texas and Missouri.

Iris scans capture a detailed image of the ridges in the colored part of the eye using infrared photography. The iris is as detailed and unique as a fingerprint. Among the reasons for the popularity of iris scans are that they are done quickly and easily, with little or no personal contact.

Research at Carnegie Melon University is developing technology that will be able collect scan data at 40 feet. With the ease of capturing such data, privacy concerns are increasing. One participant in the Carnegie Melon study commented, “I feel negatively about a remote iris scan because I want there to be some kind of interaction between me and this system that’s going to be monitoring me.” *

People want to know and approve that their data is being collected. So far, there has been no public debate or oversight. The bureau is in the process of creating a “privacy impact assessment” report in response to the growing scope of the program, saying currently that the program is bound by “internal information security standards.” **



**The FBI has collected 430,000 iris scans in a so-called 'pilot program'

By Colin Lecher and Russell Brandom for The Verge, July 12, 2016 08:00 am



*The FBI has spent years quietly building a huge trove of eyeball data

By Rafi Schwartz, for Fusion, 7/13/16

Retailers are using Facial Recognition Technology to track shoppers, for security and to help boost sales

Retailers are increasingly using facial recognition technology for security, checking camera footage against known shoplifters and criminals. This is made possible with higher resolution cameras and advanced analytical capabilities.

The same techniques to identity shoplifters are also be used to track customers with the goal of increasing sales. Sophisticated analytics software measure browsing “dwell times,” responses to product displays and traffic flow, helping retailers measure which displays work well, and where the customer traffic is. This helps brick and mortar stores compete against online retailers, which use cookies to track buyers. 

Consumer privacy is a key issue. Is the data being collected and saved? If so, is it secure from hackers? These are the issues and concerns retailers are considering. 

Revealed: how facial recognition has invaded shops – and your privacy 
Chris Frey , Toronto, March 3 2016


Related: a multi-stakeholder NTIA group has agreed to a Code of Conduct for commercial use of Facial Recognitions Technology

National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) guidelines encourage commercial entities that use facial recognition technology to give individuals the opportunity to control whether their facial template data can be shared with a third party that doesn’t have this information.

Other recommendations for best practices urge commercial organizations to disclose their policies on the collection, sharing, and storage of this information; to provide notice to consumers when facial recognition is used; to takes steps to protect this information; and to provide consumers means of contacting entities regarding the use of this data.


NTIA group agrees on face recognition code of conduct 
22 June 2016