View and vote on the article here: Biometric Security - Take One
Biometric Security - Take One| Category | | | Summary | | Imagine this: You have a terible memory, your old CRT is surrounded by Post-It notes with passwords for different websites, your business' VPN password, and your online banking password. In other words, you have a security headache. If you think your prob |
| | Body | With biometric security, your body is the password. The most common implementations are fingerprint readers and retina scanners. I will give an overview of what they are and talk about the pros and cons of each.
A fingerprint reader is just what it sounds like: you place your finger on a little pad and poof, you're logged into your computer. When you need to input a password for a website, your fingerprint does all the typing, and the scanner software can store different passwords for different websites and enter them once your finger has been scanned.
This is also useful in that you can avoid keyloggers, because you aren't actually typing in your password. Most entry level scanners have you put your finger on the pad numerous times to make sure that it can recognize it even if your finger is in a slightly different position. Another great feature is multi-user support; many scanners will hold up to 20 different prints, so different people can store their own passwords for even the same sites.
Fingerprint readers come in many shapes and sizes, from built-in readers on laptops, keyboards, and mice, to external USB peripherals that can be purchased separately. The problem with some fingerprint scanners is that they can be fooled quite easily (depending on the model/make of scanner). While most won't be fooled by an image of your fingerprint, they will be fooled by a 3D model.
It was discovered that melted gummy-bears could make an excellent medium for hacking a fingerprint reader. The second major biometric security implementation is the retina scanner. Retina scanners are normaly more expensive and less attainable, but they more secure, since they are not fooled by pictures of the eye, and come with most, if not all, of the same features of the fingerprint readers.
To conclude, I would say that a good memory and secure passwords are still the best way to go, but those of us not blessed with good memory should buy a fingerprint reader for ease of use, relative security, and value. As the technology improves, they should become more difficult to bypass and are even now coming coupled with smart card readers for extra security. |
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This article was imported from zZine. (original author: Ranok)
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