Further to my column about fingerprint biometric scanners (subscription only ), I’ve heard from a company working on a different kind of biometric security: Via the bone. Last week, Mass.-based RSA Security Inc. (the guys who make the SecurID number tag, called ‘a two-factor user authentication system’ in the jargon) announced a joint research collaboration with … Read more
Is Wi-Fi being used by phishers and other identity thieves? Some folk reckon so, pointing to tricks such as the Evil Twin threat and something called ‘WiPhishing’, which, according to Information Week, goes like this: “We call WiPhishing the act of covertly setting up a wireless-enabled laptop or access point for the purpose of getting … Read more
This week’s WSJ.com/AWSJ column (subscription only, I’m afraid) is about biometric fingerprint readers. Microsoft’s new offering seems to have reinjected some vigour into an otherwise obscure corner of the market. As I say in the column, I’m not convinced that fingerprint scanners are the way to go, not least because of tested methods of fooling … Read more
Something I’ve noticed about biometric fingerprint readers. They don’t work well after a bath. Why is that? Are our fingers different after a bath? I mean, they look different — all wrinkly, for one thing — but why does that mess up the fingerprint reader? I do my best thinking in the bath, and it’s … Read more
It sometimes boggles my mind at how messy and nasty the Internet has become. The Canberra Times (no URL available, can’t find it on their website) quotes Peter Tippett, a member of United States President George W.Bush’s Information Technology Advisory Committee and chief technologist at Cybertrust, as telling a media briefing in Sydney last week … Read more