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Aladdin Takes Authentication To Heart
anadgouda writes "Aladdin Technologies is using cardio patterns to confirm identities. This can be eventually used for authentication and they say it offers better performance, cost and reliability. From the article: 'The technology reads intrinsic human electro-biometric dynamic signals acquired by touching a small conductive surface. The signature, called the BioDynamic Signature, is based on electronic signals produced from the human body, including the heart.'"
Like the article says "Great, Now your biometric house of the future can lock you out cause you're scared of the psycho killer chasing you."
And you people were scared when you thought the introduction of fingerprint scanners would lead to criminals cutting off fingers...
I wonder how it deals with cardiac arrhythmia?
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
There are some amusing points above about what happens when these rythms change - and anybody who's played with their hifi wires without following the instructions and switching it all off will know that the tones and volumes we produce change a lot from day to day. How can they seriously say they are DOING this now, when it doesn't seem at all feasible? Bring me proof.
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Man, that's great. First a heart attack, and now (because of that) I can't login anymore to my computer to finish my project due TODAY at 3:00PM... aagh... it's coming again...
I am having a heart attack and can't login to the comput
This should resolve some of the problems with fingerprint scanners. It'd be really difficult to duplicate someone's heart rhythm. And cutting out someone's heart wouldn't work at all.
Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
What if you have a pacemaker?
.sig withheld by request
Just go to any Denny's or Perkins in the midwest. This technology is used in the incredibly accurate Lov 'o meter and other devices that use your biorythms to detect how personable you are or your capacity for romance.
If you use this technology instead of passwords, you get authentication AND validation at the same time!
I see all the IT personnel now stopping excrising just so their heart rate won't change. Of course, then we'll have the hackers that want to spoof the passwords of others so they try really odd excrise regimes so that they can match up their heart rates to others. ;)
...then I hope I don't have to see it for a loooong time.
I went to a swimming pool that "upgraded" their coin-operated lockers--they went from keys to electonic locks with keypad-entered passcodes a number of years ago, then decided that STILL wasn't snazzy enough and put in fingerprint readers.
I hope they canned the pointy-haired idiot who came up with THAT gem of an idea.
Here is the problem: It is easy enough to get into your locker before you enter the pool. After you go out and swim for a bit your fingers get all wet and wrinkly and your fingerprints actually shrink a bit...it seems that the software is too picky/stupid to compensate, and as a result people have to go and dry their hands under the hot air dryers for several minutes just to open their locks. A lot of people would just give up and get an attendant to open the locker--which would require you to give a sufficiently detailed description of the contents before they'd open it.
Here is the other real excellent part of this deal: only one fingerprint would open a locker--even from the same person, so if I used my right index finger to open it to start with, I couldn't use my left index finger..nor could I add another person's finger so you could share a locker--either you spend extra to get separate lockers or one person always has to go back to re-open it.
If you think using a severed finger even with these readers you're kidding yourself--I'm sure that it'd be too cold and the lack of circulation would alter the fingerprint too much. It sounds to me like this heart rythm thing is just a solution looking for a problem.
Here is the ultimate irony: these state-of-the-art biometric-access lockers were equipped to accept COINS ONLY--no debit and no credit cards, and not even paper cash--and they cost up to $6 for daily rental.
Sometimes, technology is just stupid.
For a moment there I was worried I'd have to have an EKG reader before I could use Ghostscript
-- 3 events that reshaped the world in the 20th century: WW1, WW2, and WWW
Your heart patterns change over your life, how can you use them as a password? Thats like using the length of your hair or fingernails as a password.
Fascism is the greatest political ideology ever conceived. Sorry.
...Mr. Smith, but we can't get you into surgery until we can confirm that you are who you say you are with your insurance company's new ID Theft prevention device. Yes, I know you're having a heart attack, but until you relax and let your heart beat normally, there's nothing we can do. It's standard procedure, and we entail great risk if we don't confirm that you are who you are, and use a similar device to unlock your current medical records as well. It's all part of that new "privacy act" they just passed. Yes, the one that requires you to explicitly give permission to share your medical information with the companies that are most likely to use your medical records against you, or else they won't cover your medical expenses. :)
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Mr. Smith? Mr. Smith? Darn, lost another one to Geico!
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(I don't have anything against Geico, it just works well with the Ditech theme.)
Microsoft has just released their much anticipated hands-free cordless mouse. Warning, it may hurt a little at first.
Regarding the $6 coin-only fee, I was at a traveling carnival last year, and they were trialing swipe cards for replacing the old tickets system for riding rides. Great idea, but there was only one place to get the cards and refill them from a cashier, which had a line a mile long. They had thought ahead, and there were a number of vending machines that would sell/refill them, but as in your case, they only accepted quarters, and the cards only worked in denominations of $10. I was real tempted to take a hammer and see if I could knock a whole roll of quarters through that slot.
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I don't know who the genius accountant was that decided on the cheapy vending machines, but even the carnies were ticked at them, because most people just got tired of the hassle and skipped the rides that weekend (we have one every couple weeks, so it's not a can't miss event), though from what I saw, the contest folks (toss the loop, darts, etc.) were doing great business, probably because most people don't like to go through the hassle of going someplace, then walk out without doing anything.
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From what I saw of the card idea, it worked great, you walk up, slide your card, the gate/operator lets you through, and you're golden. The card had a rope for putting them around your neck, so you didn't have to worry about losing tickets along the way. One problem I did see was some people thought they had more money on their card than they did (or were trying to get a free ride), and that meant the operator had to deal with them a little, which slowed things.
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Still, I can't help but think of how much money they lost, simply because somebody in management decided to save a few bucks and get coin-only machines. I figure that after a few towns, the carnies probably just tossed the card system in the bin and went back to ticket stubs, because it was a real headache not only to us, but to them as well.
Microsoft has just released their much anticipated hands-free cordless mouse. Warning, it may hurt a little at first.
28 comments and not a single person who realized that it's not heart-rate based. Where in the article does it say anything about heart rate?! Maybe if you read up a bit on the tech this would be a discussion and not just a bunch of wisecracks.