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Smart Gun Inspires Smart Mouse Authentification System
dcblogs writes Defense contractor Raytheon has received a patent for a mouse that has a biometric pressure grip. It believes the pressure grip, as a form of authentication, will be particularly hard to defeat because it works from a neurological pattern versus a physical pattern, such as a facial scan. "It's not just how much pressure you exert on the mouse itself, but it's also the x-y coordinates of your position," said Glenn Kaufman, a cybersecurity engineer. The approach was inspired by similar pressure grips used in smart guns.
It's a perfectly cromulentificated word.
It hurts the palm of my hand to hold it the same way all the time.
Even beside that, testing it just now, my hand moves all over the thing and is in a different position each time I let go and put it back from typing.
I don't understand how this is practical. A facial or retinal scan seems more reliable, can use your existing generic camera so no need for a custom mouse.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
...I have to bring my own mouse when breaking into the NSA headquarters?
But seriously. We are really talking about a device here that is eventually attached via USB, on an external plug to boot, to a computer. Erhmmmmm...
I guess it's time to dust off the presentation on how anything connected by USB isn't really a good idea if used as some kind of security device.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Okay, so it's a computer mouse that can *detect* a particular grip.
I was really wondering how researchers were able to get laboratory mice to grip guns. And why.
it's not foreplay when you do it to yourself.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Mouse authentication implies a GUI, which implies the most serious application that would request the verification is Facebook.
From the article: "The information needed for a retina scan, for instance, can be stolen from a doctor's office..."
And the information about how some VIP handles his mouse, can be stolen form either his mouse or the computer that gets biometric data from that mouse.
This is basically a password that cannot be changed. Just like fingerprints and retina scans. And all these things can be faked so easily. You don't bother with a false fingerprint or "a practiced mouse grip pattern". No, you replace the device (mouse or fingerprint reader) and fake the digital output from the authentication device. This is much easier.
A keylogger device steals keypresses - in the hope of finding a password. A similar logging device can log communication from a fancy mouse, or finger/retina scanners. After that, the signals can be faked with no need to actually grip a mouse or present a finger/eye.
And it won't matter if the mouse use some cryptographically safe protocol to communicate with the computer. When I plant my logging bug, I won't need to intercept mousecomputer communication. I intercept communication from the sensor system to the mouse electronics. That way, I get the "signature" before it is processed and possibly encrypted. Easy when you know electronics and programming - which enough people do. After that, the grip signature can be superimposed on my mouse movements when I abuse this tossers "safe computer". Possibly using remote control from a different location.
A hassle to set up, but only the first time. Similiar to how DeCSS took some work to pull off - but now it is everywhere. And it will be done for the first time when the incentive is there - such as a bank protecting their transaction computers with this. And then the hack goes on the black hat market . . .
So what you're saying is that "something you know" is the only valid authentication factor for you - something you have and something you are are both invalid? No two factor auth for you I guess.
Something you know or unique patterns created by your brain.
The author's French and the spelling of that word in French is in fact "authentification". One of the many instances where French and English have confusingly similar words.
Interestingly though, this fits with each language's tradition regarding Latin roots: English will use them almost as is (authenticatus -> authenticate), whereas French will generally integrate the word into the language's grammar and syntax (the -ifier suffix means "make something become", hence "authentifier" means to make something become "established as genuine", ie. authentic). NB: I am not a linguist or anything, I just enjoy reading up on etymology.
when you pry it from my cold... Wait, what? Oh.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
Given the raging success of "smart guns", this should be a slam dunk for the company to make billions!
Autentificación is the Spanish term, too.
German too.
Seems like this is another one of those random english quirks as it's not even consistent. Why is there no 'Identication' for example?
Everybody who watched The Town knows it's gotta be authenticious
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
It's a perfectly cromulentificated word.
Right! Embiggen your vocabulary already...
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
Smart Doorknob?
i think english uses about 800 french words amongst the myriad words it takes from other languages . english is the original mash-up of languages, (perhaps the original open-source langauge?)
"The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
my thoughts as well. what is that patent office up to?
"The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
I can see how an exercise like this can benefit those against smart guns. Put that exact technology in a device we use everyday, such as our mouse, and track how often it fails or becomes temperamental. So, you had to readjust your grip after every 50 uses, and it flat out stopped working after 1000? Would you want that to be in the hands of an officer trying to save your life?