Written on 2:28 AM by AKS
As per an old saying “You can't teach an old dog new tricks”! But the government of India has decided to change the old habits of their employees. India's bureaucrats have long had a reputation for not sticking to time. In an effort to promote punctuality, biometric scanners have been installed at the offices of the Home Ministry.
From now on thousands of Home Ministry employees will register the time they arrive at and leave from work. A ten-minute delay three times a month will count as one day of leave. This marks the beginning of a drive to change the decades-old work culture of government employees, who have a reputation for arriving late and leaving early.
Home Minister P. Chidambaram said, “I hope that people absorb the spirit and the purpose behind which this system has been introduced. But this is a message to the whole country that everybody must do his work for the allotted time," he said. "I understand flexi time, we will introduce some flexibility, but the flexibility is if you come ten or fifteen minutes late, you have to work another ten or fifteen minutes."
The punctuality drive at the Home Ministry is music to the ears of thousands of people who have become accustomed to patiently waiting for government employees to turn up for duty, and endless delays in processing public documents such as passports. They are hoping other employees of the federal government, a staggering three million, will also have to fall in line.
However sociologists point out that it is not fair to blame just bureaucrats for slack time keeping. Punctuality is not an Indian virtue - whether at the official or social level. It is quite common for trains to run behind time, or for people to turn up late for official meetings. Guests seldom worry if they are hours late for lunch and dinner invitations, and marriage parties are often inordinately delayed.
Among the pieces of advise commonly handed out to foreign businessmen heading to India is not to pack too many appointments in a day, because several could run late.
Posted in
Biometric News,
biometric scanner
|
Written on 3:31 AM by AKS
Interswitch, an electronic transaction and payment processing company, has teamed up with Precise Biometrics, a developer of biometric solutions, to deliver Match-on-Card technology to the African banking industry. The partnership has already yielded one project which provides licenses for the product in 42 billion in Nigerian currency.
The partnership is significant to the banking sectors in Nigeria because the country has passed regulations requiring banks to do away with magnetic stripes for banking cards and instead adopting embedded chip cards.
The Match-on-Card technology from Precise enables banks to utilize biometrics for customer authentication at ATMs without having to store any biometric information. Precise Match-on-Card is in the process of storing and matching fingerprint information on a smart card to establish the physical presence of an individual. As the fingerprint information does not leave the card, there is no need for database or online communication, and the cardholder’s integrity is preserved.
Mr. Mitchell Elegbe, MD/CEO, Interswitch, in a statement said, “Interswitch is pleased to enter into this partnership, as Precise Biometrics is the leading provider of biometric Match-on-Card solutions and we believe that our joint efforts and technological know-how will have great commercial potential in the West African region”.
Posted in
Biometric News,
match on card technology
|
Written on 9:33 PM by AKS
Biometric security is rapidly gaining adoption among both private & public sectors worldwide as a precise, trustworthy and economic way to provide better and advanced security surveillance.
The continuously growing security concerns ranging from individual identity theft and corporate security to national security are driving the biometric market. According to a new research on the biometric sector, the global biometric market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of around 18% during the 2010-2012. This report discusses about the current and future scenario of biometric market across various regions, underlining the future potential areas and key issues crucial for the market development.
Europe & North America dominated the global biometric market, accounting for a combined market share of 62% in 2009. It was narrowly followed by the Asia-Pacific region. The African & Middle East region is also expected to emerge as a growing market for biometrics by 2012 as the Gulf and South African regions are taking several initiatives and starting various biometric programs.
As per the report, the financial sector has been emerging as a potential adopter in global biometric market. In particular, banks are leading the charge in oder to cut down on increasing frauds. The most interesting thing is that a number of banks in developing countries (specifically Asian nations, including India, China, Malaysia, etc.) are looking upon biometrics as a way to curb fraud and offer customers an easy and more convenient authentication alternative to cards and PINs for transactions like ATM withdrawals.
You can buy the report “Global Biometric Forecast to 2012” here.
Posted in
biometric market report,
Biometric News
|
Written on 2:23 AM by AKS
“Face Recognition Solutions” has developed a new generation face recognition system in effort to improve security system. This system is based on live face recognition. This new concept is developed by keeping “No Human Touch” concept in mind. It make it very crucial for security system.
The new face recognition system requires just 0.07 second for detecting face and 0.13 second for processing the face. So it performs in a fast manner and do accurate detection of face.
This face recognition system is used for the following applications
- Time attendance system: This system easily integrated with time attendance system. So give you face recognition based time attendance system. You can also generate payroll for your employee.
- Access control system: our face recognition system is integrated with access control system. You can install this system at your gate, door etc. this system give visual monitor facility with access control facility.
- Visitor management solutions: you get freedom from conventional pen-paper based visitor management system. Our system give face recognition based visitor management solutions.
Some major features of this system are:- Simultaneous multiple face processing
- Live face detection
- Face image quality determination
- Tolerance to face posture
- Multiple samples of the same face
- Identification capability
- Fast face matching
- Compact face features template
Written on 3:53 AM by AKS
Though we have been listening the term “Biometrics” for quite some time and
become aware of what this technology is all about, their uses and applications, and all that. But most of the people who are from non-technological background often find it very hard to understand the working principle and style of this technology and its products. In the subsequent paras we would try to understand the exact meaning of biometric.
Meaning of BiometricsThe term “Biometric” is made up of two different words BIO + METRIC. The word Bio means the biological traits or characteristics of human being and Metric means the measurement. Combining both the words it results in “the measurement of biological characteristics”. To put it simply Biometric is the measurement and identification of individual traits and characteristics.
Types of Biometric Characteristics
After becoming familiar with the term Biometric, we need to know what type of biological traits are studied under it. All the characteristics that uniquely signifies the identity of a person comes under biological traits. These characteristics can be classified in two major categories: Physiological & Behavioral.
- Physiological traits are related to the shape & structure of the body. It includes fingerprint, face recognition, iris recognition, DNA, hand and palm geometry, etc. The list is not limited and may include any characteristics that uniquely distinguish one person from the rest.
- Behavioral characteristics are related to the behavior of a person. It includes voice recognition, typing rhythm, gait, etc.
Now we knew sufficient about the biometric, the next important thing to understand is how these biological traits are used as the unique identity of individuals.
How Does Biometric Help us?
Let's us understand this from a simple example. When we try to access our email account or bank accounts, we need to feed password in order to get access. Password usually is combination of characters that can be stolen, hacked, and can be used for illegal purposes. In case our passwords are being stolen, it can lead to serious mischiefs. Here biometrics come to the fore to help us. Instead of passwords, biometric security systems and products enable us to access our accounts with the help of our unique biometric characteristics. And since these traits are unique no other person can access our accounts ever.
Like passwords, the biometric information of individual person is stored in the databases and when we feed our individual traits through the biometric devices, then it check the database and try to match with the previously stored one. If both the records matches it allows us the access and if not access is denied.
Posted in
about biometrics,
biometric article,
what is biometrics
|
Written on 12:20 AM by AKS
The National Australia Bank (NAB) has decided to use biometric voice recognition software to identify the genuineness of telephone bankers. It is not the single bank harnessing biometric security technology. Sometime back HSBC started using biometric technology capable of recognizing over 2,500 different facial features to help it control access to data-centres.
Organizations requiring high security are either monitoring or using the development of the biometric security technology industry.
According to Bob McDowall, analyst at TowerGroup, biometrics is an option for banks, but he warned that there are uncertainties and challenges for banks that use it. "It is not 100% because people's voices and faces change. The banks will also have to ensure that the voice and facial data used is secured appropriately because people may see it as an invasion of their privacy," he said.
Healthcare is the another sector that demands very high security. According to Tracy Andrew, head of information and security at Berkshire Shared Services, the NHS Trust only uses biometrics in its nurseries to control parental access."We use fingerprint recognition and it has been 100% successful. It has also improved our efficiency by automating access."
Posted in
applications of biometric security,
Biometric Technology
|
Written on 10:56 PM by AKS
Sagem Sécurité (SAFRAN group), world leader in biometric identification solutions, and Schneider Electric, a leading control and signalling components manufacturer, have come along to combine their expertise to create a new innovative security solution for industrial environments: the Harmony biometric switch. The Harmony biometric switch is a very innovative biometric device that perfectly suits the needs and stipulations of the industrial market, providing optimum access control to systems and equipment.
The biometrics integrated in the switch combine high level of protection (unique
access using fingerprint recognition) with user-friendliness (no key, badge or password that can be lost, forgotten, stolen or copied). The switch offers the industrial sector increased productivity by minimizing maintenance and operating costs of the system and, at the same time, prevents unauthorised operation.
The switch is simple to set-up as both its registration/recording and parameterisation are quick and intuitive directly on the sensor. It is designed to operate entirely independently, without the need of any additional interface (PC). Regarding installation, its compactness enables it to be easily integrated in a control panel due to its compliance to the standard diameter 22 mm cut-out mounting method.
Posted in
Biometric News,
Biometric Security Products
|
Written on 12:04 AM by AKS
Gandhinagar, India: In order to check the rising cases of absenteeism among the students and teachers, the Gujarat government has decided to install biometric system in state-run primary schools to mark the attendance of teachers and students, announced an official in the chief minister's office on Sunday.
The decision was taken after a directive issued by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to the chiefs of all seven municipal corporations in the state. According to the official, it aims to entirely revamp the educational system.
It was mentioned in the directive that the schools have to start looking for a software that records the attendance of teachers and students using biometrics. However no deadline has been fixed for installing the software.
The attendance of teachers and students would be monitored by the state government on a daily basis, not only to check the dropout rate but also whether teachers are regularly present in schools. The biometric attendance data would have to be uploaded on to the websites by the municipal school authorities on a daily basis.
Posted in
Biometric News
|
Written on 4:51 AM by AKS
UPEK, the leader in enterprise and consumer biometric fingerprint solutions, today announced availability of fingerprint authentication solutions for manufacturers of netbooks and Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) to integrate into these new classes of portable, internet-connected computing devices. UPEK’s Fingerprint Authentication Solutions for netbooks and MIDs feature the latest generation T
ouchStrip® TCS5 Fingerprint Sensor optimized for compact, low-cost, low-power devices, and Fingerprint Suite™ Starter software that allows users to access password protected websites with the simple swipe of a finger.
As users of netbooks and MIDs take advantage of cloud computing applications and online storage of personal files, they are burdened by a growing number of different passwords to access their web accounts. To alleviate the pain of trying to remember these passwords, Fingerprint Suite Starter remembers and replays these numerous passwords with the simple swipe of a finger. The dedicated touch-based user interface offered by the UPEK TouchStrip Fingerprint sensor also provides a convenient user experience on these small platforms with limited or no keyboards.
”The sudden popularity of netbooks and MIDs underscores
a shift in the way people interact with their devices and access the Internet,” said Vito Fabbrizio, Senior Director of OEM Marketing at UPEK. “Building on UPEK’s experience in making fingerprint sensors ubiquitous in laptop computers, we are also pleased to help OEMs and ODMs offer their netbook and MID customers with an innovative user experience that fits their new approach to computing.”
Fingerprint Suite Starter will be available starting in March 2009 with support for Windows® XP and planned support for Windows 7 Starter edition. In addition, Fingerprint Suite support for Linux will be available in the second half of 2009.
Source:www.businesswire.com
Posted in
Biometric Fingerprint Technology,
Biometric Technology
|
Written on 4:33 AM by AKS
SecuGen, a leading developer of biometric products, has announced the release of two new high-capacity OEM fingerprint sensors. The two new scanners are called SDA04M and SDA04.
SDA04M, a non-FIPS compliant commercial application scanner, is intended for commercial biometric applications. While the SDA04, a FIPS compliant scanner for government or commercial applications, is intended for government and commercial applications where FIPS 201/PIV compliance is required.
The new SDA04 and SDA04M fingerprint sensors can register and store 10,000 users and perform blazingly fast one-to-many (1:N) searches on all 10,000. These sensors support either SecuGen proprietary templates or ANSI-INCITS 378-2004 standard templates for interoperability. The ANSI-INCITS option utilizes SecuGen’s MINEX compliant algorithms that have been tested by NIST. Additionally, the SDA04’s fingerprint optic module is FBI certified for PIV compliance and meets FBI Image Quality Specs.
According to Dan Riley, VP of Engineering for SecuGen. “Our goal, as always, is to provide our partners with the best tools available anywhere for building state of the art biometrics products. We are very pleased to be able to provide business partners around the world with these two new products.”
The SDA04M and SDA04 join the recently introduced SDA03M™ in ushering in a powerful new generation of standalone OEM fingerprint sensors built on SecuGen’s renowned rugged, accurate and high image quality fingerprint technology.
Posted in
Biometric Fingerprint Technology,
Biometric News
|
Written on 1:08 AM by AKS
Biometric Access Company will showcase its new Secure-Touch SmartLock physical access control system at the
National Retail Federation’s 2009 Expo on January 12 and 13 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York.
SmartLock is a biometric-based physical access control solution that replaces key- based and ID card- based locks for enhanced security. It ensures only authorized individuals gain access to restricted areas such as inventory rooms, data centers and pharmacies, as well as restricted equipment including safes, controlled substance cabinets and merchandise displays.
Users enroll a master
template of their fingerprint in SmartLock, which is then compared to the provided fingerprint image each time they wish to gain access to the restricted area. Admittance is granted only when the template is matched and a positive ID verification is made. “SmartLock dramatically improves security and loss prevention for our customers,” said BAC President and CEO John Zavoyna. “The biometric solution eliminates lost, stolen or borrowed keys and ID badges to ensure only authorized individuals enter restricted areas. In addition, all admittance attempts – those both granted and denied – are captured in a log to provide complete access records.”
SmartLock utilizes BAC’s SecureTouch Advanced Modular (STAm) device, which is utilized for other BAC solutions including time & attendanc e and pharmacy controlled substance tracking . STAm is also used to process BAC’s payroll check cashing solution, and can function as an EFT terminal for credit and debit sales transactions.
Posted in
Biometric News,
Biometric Security Products,
Physical Access Control
|
Written on 3:05 AM by AKS
Fingerprint readers watch out. What used to be state of the art security could soon be replaced by contact-free biometric authorization systems that can read the unique pattern of veins beneath your skin. This week at the CES 2009, Fujitsu is demonstrating just such a technology, dubbed PalmSecure as well as an integrated solution for companies dubbed LOGONDIRECTOR Enterprise Edition that will allow companies to manage security across their companies.
Palm vein scanning is far more secure and accurate than finger print," according to Dan Miller, business development manager for the new products group. "Finger print can be spoofed but vein technology is located in the palm of your hand and cannot be spoofed."
Fujitsu Palm Reader
The PalmSecure reader uses near infrared light to capture your vein pattern, which is unique to each individual. This is then compared to a database of know patterns. The company claims its false acceptance is just 0.00008 percent.
Presumably, this biometric sensor could protect against the age-old sci-fi trope of using a detached finger to trick a biometric sensor. "You need to have blood flowing in order to get scanned." Miller says. "This virtually eliminates fraud."
Miller says the technology is already being deployed in multiple industries, including Healthcare, Physical Access, and Maintenance. For example, the company that administers the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), Pearson VUE is using the technology to identify test takers to prevent so-called "proxy" cheating. Hospitals such as ValleyCare Health System in Pleasanton, CA, BayCare Health System in Tampa, FL. and Carolinas HealthCare System, Charlotte, NC are currently using PalmSecure solutions to identify patients and prevent insurance fraud.
Posted in
Biometric News,
Biometric Palm Reader
|
Written on 11:26 PM by AKS
The world market for biometric products and services is surging ahead with opportunities, trends and growth drivers, as more governments and private firms implement management programs, criminal and employee IDs, as well as surveillance initiatives. In the coming years, Asia and the Middle East will account for the largest share in the biometrics market, which is expected to reach more than Dh27 billion globally by 2012.
In the Middle East, companies and governments are increasingly using biometric security systems to verify the identity of individuals at corporate and government sites, as well as at border points and airports. The regional biometrics market was estimated to be worth almost $500 million (Dh1.84 billion) in 2007, according to published reports.
Only recently, the UAE government spent about $55 million on cutting-edge biometrics technology to implement the National ID system, which in turn will generate some revenues.
Posted in
Biometric News,
Biometric Technology Market
|
Written on 12:41 AM by AKS
A new tender has been announced by the Israeli government detailing its plans for a nationwide biometric enrolment solution. The solution is designed to underpin both the eID project (which was awarded on 1/12/2008 to a consortium led by HP) and the country’s upcoming electronic passport project.
The enrolment project entails the capture of fully ICAO-compliant biometrics (face, two fingerprints) and signature capture, at sites geographically distributed throughout the country.
The tender announcement was released on 29/12/2008. The last date for purchasing the tender is 20/1/2009, and the last submission date is 15/3/2009.
Formal announcement in Hebrew:
http://www.info.gov.il/nr/exeres/C7942DE7-9ED2-4CAD-83FC-D55A1C77A4DB.htm
Posted in
Biometric News
|
Written on 2:27 AM by AKS
Intersec Trade Fair and Conference 2009 is one of the largest biometric products exhibitions in the world. It is going to be held in Dubai from January 18 -20.
According to Angela Schierholz, Senior Show Manager- EPOC Messe Frankfurt GmbH, the Intersec International Conference will feature presentations by more than 60 high profile speakers on the subject “fighting terrorism and serious organised crime.”
“It has become a matter of increasing global concern that terrorist organisations are consistently finding innovative ways to plan unconventional and undetectable attacks across the developed world. Aside from the multiple illegal avenues that homegrown and foreign terrorist organisations are using to raise funds for their operations as well, global supply chain protection, piracy and information security have become critical watch-points for governmental and domestic police and security agencies, worldwide,” said Angela Schierholz, Senior Show Manager- EPOC Messe Frankfurt GmbH.
Highlights
The highlights of the event will be SWAT training team from Austria that has trained with GSG9 and COBRA including a specially trained dog as well as Dubai CID’s dog squad and Dubai Police rescue team participation.
“We are especially proud of some new features at the show like two indoor demo areas where some exhibitors and institutions will show and demonstrate their products and services in a way that would not be possible at their stand. Among these, is safety at height including suspension trauma, a fire extinguisher workshop etc. There will also be a famous hacker turned security advisor flown in from Europe doing some of the stunning show,” said Angela.
Conference Streams
This year, the conference has grown considerably big, with five conference streams representing the Intersec sections. They are :
Opportunities
The event provides excellent networking opportunities that allows companies to find new sources of distribution and business partners by building and reinforcing existing relationships in the Middle East. The show will be used as a platform by thousands of industry experts to exchange ideas and introduce their latest products.
Posted in
Biometrics Trade Fair
|
As per an old saying “You can't teach an old dog new tricks”! But the government of India has decided to change the old habits of their employees. India's bureaucrats have long had a reputation for not sticking to time. In an effort to promote punctuality, biometric scanners have been installed at the offices of the Home Ministry.
