Sony unveils vein authentication!

[Andem]

I thought the fingerprint scanner on my laptop was pretty cool but now we're using veins that carry blood to electronically identify you? I wonder what they'll come up with next. Is my fingerprint not unique enough?


Sony unveils vein authentication tech



Forget face recognition, retinal scans of fingerprint technology – vein authentication is where it's at, according to Sony.

The company has unveiled Mofiria, which the company is calling: "Compact Sized, High Speed, High Accuracy Finger Vein Authentication Technology". Not sure about the caps, but it makes the technology seem very important in the press release.
The new tech was unveiled in Tokyo this month, so expect it to come to the UK never (where's our Bullet Train?).

Vein authentication

Sony has created the authentication system as a way to protect networked products from prying eyes.

The technology works in the following way: "Vein Authentication uses a unique method where a CMOS sensor diagonally captures scattered light inside the finger veins, making a plane layout possible.

"As a result, a small and more flexible design can be realized in building this technology into mobile devices."

Sony is claiming that the identification system is fool-proof as it uses the veins inside the finger. Unlike finger prints, which can obviously be cloned. Or did we just see that in an episode of Mission: Impossible once?

Sony hopes to implement the Mofiria technology into mobile devices this year, so maybe our previous statement of seeing it'never' was a little harsh.

By Marc Chacksfield

 

[Praxius]

Geez.... Sony's a bit late:

Security system at Port of Halifax will recognize staff's vein patterns
Security system at Port of Halifax will recognize staff's vein patterns

HALIFAX -- You're so vein. No, it's not a new Carly Simon song, but rather an identity scanning system that the Port of Halifax is putting in place to increase security.

The system takes an infrared image of the heat signature of the veins in employees' hands. That image is then encrypted with algorithms and stored in a smart card that employees will use to gain entrance to the port.

When employees want to enter, they insert a smart card with their vascular template stored in a memory chip into a reader and put their hand in to match the template on the card. More than 4,000 port workers will use the system.

The vascular biometric system is more secure than iris scanners, according to the company that developed the technology. "The biggest upside is, it's the only biometric that's actually inside the body, so it can't be copied," said Colin Wright, director of strategic accounts with Toronto-based Identica Canada Corp.

Wright said fingerprints and irises may both be duplicated and used to fool biometric security scanners. In the latter instance, someone could photograph your iris with a high definition camera and then place it on a clear contact lens.

Identica's technology can even work for individuals who lack hands, Wright said. "We can scan the vein pattern in their wrist."

A Korean company called Techsphere developed the scanner technology, while Identica created the smart card interface that goes with it.

The Port of Halifax is not the only company using the technology. Hamilton's McMaster University uses it to secure access to its nuclear reactor; the University of Ottawa employs the scanners in its biohazard labs and York Regional Police use them.

Sony missed the boat on this one, lol.

Although their system seems to focus more on the veins in the finger, the above that is currently being used seems to work even for those who don't have hands.