Poland Installs Europe's First Biometric Fingerprint-Scanning ATM Machine

 Given the financial situations in Greece, Spain, and Portugal in recent weeks, the Euro Zone has plenty of reason to be down on itself. But Poland is showing a bit of financial-sector flash this week, becoming the first nation in Europe to install biometric ATM machines that read fingerprints rather than magnetic cards.

Poland's BPS SA bank set a European -- and if we're not mistaken, a Western -- milestone by installing the biometric cash machine in Warsaw.

Fingerprint The Same As Credit Card Theft?

By Ravi Das

You know what, today, I was going to start the same process for my daily writings as I always do. That is, look at the latest Press Releases, and decide what is important enough to report to my blog subscribers.

Once I pick a Press Release for the day, I then read it very thoroughly, and analyze the information from it.

As you have noticed, usually the first section is a summary of the Press Release, which is just usually the highlights. The second section usually contains my analysis of the Press Release.

Well, today I thought I would try something just a little different. I attend a lot of networking events here in the Chicago and surrounding areas to promote my newsletter, and other services.

A question I keep getting asked all the time: “What if my fingerprint is stolen”??? And in fact, I was just asked this question a number of times this morning.

Well, my usual answer is that yes, it is a form of ID Theft. But, put things in perspective. It’s not quite the same as Credit Card Theft. With a fingerprint, it’s not the actual fingerprint which is stored, just the mathematical representation of it.

So for instance, look at your fingerprint, and imagine a bunch of one’s and zeroes. That is what your fingerprint is to a Fingerprint Scanner, and what is stored. So, yes there is some possibility something bad could happen, but the chances are sort of remote.

Now look at your Credit Card. You will see the number, and if your card is stolen, yes, there is a lot of damage which can happen. At this point, after you discover your card is missing, hopefully you will contact your credit card company immediately.

So, the two are not exactly the same.

Well, in an attempt to further explore this topic, here is an editorial I wrote, specifically on this. It appears in one of the sample newsletters on my website, which is http://www.biometricnews.net/ .

US banks sign up for biometric project

The US-based Financial Services Technology Consortium has launched a project to investigate the use of biometrics for verifying customer IDs. The FSTC says over 20 banks have expressed an interest in the project, including the American Bankers Association which has signed on as a sponsor.

Dan Schutzer, executive director FSTC says the programm will endeavour to develop a methodology for banks to better select, specify, evaluate and deploy biometric applications with greater customer acceptance.

"We also hope to identify and validate at least one or two of them that will make an immediate impact in the fight against identity theft and insider fraud," he adds.

The initiative grew out of a panel discussion at a joint FSTC/Bits summit in early March. A follow-up meeting is planned for later this month at Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco.

A global survey conducted by Unisys last year found that 72% of US citizens would be willing to undergo fingerprint scans to verify their identities when dealing with banks and government organisations.

Credit Union Says They Identified Passwords for 80% of Staff

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 Chatsworth, Calif.-based financial services provider that manages $1.2 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.

"Within 30 seconds, we had identified probably 80% of people's passwords," says Fowler, whose group immediately asked employees to create strong passwords that adhered to the security requirements. A few days later, the team ran the password cracker again: This time, they cracked 70%. (Click on photos to enlarge)

"We couldn't get [employees] to maintain strong passwords, and those that did forgot them, so the help desk would have to reset them," says Fowler. Telesis decided to secure network and application access with a biometric system that eliminated the need for user IDs and passwords, opting for the DigitalPersona fingerprint system from DigitalPersona Inc. in Redwood City , Calif.

Telesis rolled out fingerprint-based network and systems access technology in its headquarters and credit-union branches. Once Telesis has thoroughly tested the system, the company will deploy it in the offices of Business Partners LLC, its business loan services partner. Users no longer need to remember IDs and passwords because DigitalPersona authenticates enrolled personnel via fingerprint scanners, tying the fingerprints to 256-character passwords that it randomly generates every 45 days.

GEICO Credit Union Implements Biometric Access Control System

GEICO Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, recently purchased and implemented US Biometrics' AccessQ system for controlling physical access to various entrances with fingerprint biometrics. US Biometrics worked with GEICO to specify and implement the hardware and software system so as to biometrically control strategic entrances within their facility.

About The Products Implemented

> AccessQ biometric devices are a secure, convenient, and cost-effective alternative to badges or swipe cards. They offer levels of authorization for an individual wanting access through an entranceway and connect to the existing local area network which reduces installation costs.

> CentralQ software stores credentials including fingerprint profiles and employee information. It provides a mechanism for scheduling access based on authorization levels and the time of day.

> CentralQ Reporting allows administrators to view who accessed which devices at what time and provides some basic statistics about the system's usage.

For more info, visit:
http://www.centredaily.com/business/technology/story/870360.html