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Posted at 1:35 p.m. PDT Friday, September 18, 1998
You Are the Password
Personal computers can now recognize users
by fingerprint, voice and even face
THROW AWAY your keys. Forget your passwords.
A new technology called biometrics might soon make these
old-fashioned forms of security obsolete.
Everything from computers and automated teller machines to cars and
even the front doors of homes could ask to check your fingerprint,
hear your voice or see your face as a way of proving your identity.
These biometrics -- your body's unique characteristics -- could be
both more convenient and more secure than passwords or keys.
Convenient because you wouldn't have to carry anything special in
your pocket or inside your head. Your ``keys,'' which would always
be with you, would actually be you.
Secure because biometrics can't be copied or stolen.
Oh, sure, movies and television shows are full of spies recording
and replaying voices or synthesizing fake fingerprints, but even if
such stunts are possible in the real world, they require far more
expertise and money than simply overhearing or guessing a password
or pinching a key ring.
There is, however, a privacy question. It's one thing to identify
ourselves to our own computers and cars, but do we want large
corporations or the government keeping our body measurements on
file? There's already a bill before the Legislature that would limit
the collection and sale of biometric information. For details, go to
the World Wide Web (http://www.sen.ca.gov) and look for Senate Bill
1622.
I had my first taste of biometrics last week when I installed
U.are.U, a $150 fingerprint scanner from Digital Persona
(650-261-6070, http://www.digitalpersona.com). And I loved it.
The fingerprint scanner hardware is about the size of a mouse and
connects to the USB port of a Windows personal computer. You'll need
Windows 95 or 98, with support for NT due soon, as well as a Pentium
processor and 16 megabytes of random-access memory (RAM). Inside the
scanner is a light-sensitive chip, much like those in a digital
camera, and on top there's a postage-stamp-size window where you
press your fingertip.
More light reflects from the ridges on your fingerprint than from
the valleys, so the software can quickly see an image of the
fingerprint's curved lines. The software looks for the core, or
center, of the resulting curves and for the minutiae -- places where
ridges end or begin. It then calculates the angles between the core
and the minutiae, angles that are the same no matter how you press
your finger on the scanner.
After plugging the scanner in and installing the accompanying
software -- a very quick and easy task -- you choose two fingers
that will be used for identification. Then you press those two
fingers on the scanner window four times each.
Now you can start throwing away your passwords, starting with that
log-in password for launching Windows. If your PC isn't asking, by
the way, the password set-up was skipped when you or the factory
first installed Windows. Instead of typing letters and numbers and
then pressing return, you just press your finger for a second on the
scanner's window.
U.are.U should recognize you immediately and welcome you by name to
a new Windows session.
The name part is interesting, because you can set U.are.U up to work
for a number of people.
You can also use the U.are.U software to replace your Internet
sign-on and other passwords with the same fingerprint ``open
sesame.'' There's even a U.are.U screen saver that automatically
kicks in when you don't touch mouse or keyboard for a while, but
will revert to regular programming only when the correct fingerprint
comes along.
Promised soon is more software called U.are.U Private Space, to be
included in a $190 deluxe verison, that will let you encrypt any
file so it can't be viewed without your fingerprint key.
For better security, U.are.U doesn't send your fingerprint data
through the USB line to the computer. That could let someone
