Stories about: IRIS

Nearly seven years after 9/11, information-sharing problems that hobble law enforcement are just beginning to be solved.

An Australian researcher is developing technology that would let you use your eyes - or more specifically your iris - to unlock your PC, access secure buildings or open your front door.

Australians do not trust online business to protect their identities and financial data, according to a national survey released by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner yesterday.

The world renowned Australia Zoo on Queensland's Sunshine Coast hinterland has installed a 3D facial recognition system.

Law enforcement agencies will have access to advanced biometrics and nationwide databases containing information on DNA and "persons-of-interest" as part of a plan to tighten department collaboration investigations by July 2008.

The quarterly Unisys security index released today has found the majority of Australians surveyed particularly savvy when it comes to personal information security, in particular choosing a PIN (personal identification number), destroying bank or credit card statements or even reading the privacy policies of organizations they have dealings with.

Biometric security systems have one particularly critical vulnerability: How do you replace your finger if a hacker figures out how to duplicate it? An IBM research team working on that problem says it's recently cracked a major problem in the area of "cancelable biometrics."

Fujitsu will start selling a biometric security device next month that relies on vein patterns in the hand to verify a user's identity, it said today.

People and passwords -- in the long run, they just don't work very effectively together. At least that's what Phil Fowler, vice president of IT at Telesis Community Credit Union, a financial services provider that manages $US1.2 billion in assets, found out. His team ran a network password cracker as part of an enterprise security audit last year to see if employees were adhering to Telesis' password policies. They weren't.

In this computer-driven era, identity theft and the loss or disclosure of data and related intellectual property are growing problems. We each have multiple accounts and use multiple passwords on an ever-increasing number of computers and Web sites. Maintaining and managing access while protecting both the user's identity and the computer's data and systems has become increasingly difficult. Central to all security is the concept of authentication -- verifying that the user is who he claims to be.