• Digital certificate standard compromised by hackers

    Researchers demonstrated exploits against the X.509 standard for digital certificates used by Secure Sockets Layer; Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Lentz, DOD’s chief information assurance officer, cited identity authentication as a key security challenge for the department

  • Kemesa: Solving the identity theft problem

    The ideal solution to the online identity theft problem is to not transmit personal information to Web sites in the first place; with Kemesa’s Shop Shield, personal information can not be stolen because it is never revealed during the online transaction process

  • New technology locks up Biometrics

    Communication encryption relies on authentication being symmetric to work: the user’s password or PIN must match the password or PIN stored by the recipient (online shop, bank, etc.) to lock and unlock the data; biometric may be used for encryption — but biometrics is not a symmetric process; South African researchers now show how biometrics can nevertheless be used to make a consistent secret key for encryption

  • U.S. secret service forms three new task forces

    New task forces will deal with electronic crimes, and the agency says the partnerships will bring together law enforcement, academia, and private sector

  • Criminals can figure out an individual's Social Security number

    Researchers show that statistical techniques can be used to determine an individual’s Social Security number, based on the person’s birth date and birth location

  • Identity fundamentals. pt. 1: Who cares who you are anyway?

    Identity can be defined as a combination of the uniqueness of an individual (or device) and the attributes which are associated with that uniqueness; in the absence of a standard unique personal identification number, personal names are often used to build a single view across different unconnected applications

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  • Biometric technologies improve, offering greater reliability

    Biometrics is not perfect — but it is improving; biometrics is developing along two lines — physical, which is often more intrusive for the user, and behavioral, which is usually less intrusive; Fujitsu’s Jerry Byrnes: “What was James Bond 15 years ago is biometric reality today”

  • Aussie Defense Department trials sneaky cameras

    One of the biggest shortcomings of facial recognition devices is the angle of image capture; DSTO is toying with “attractors” — lights and sounds emitting devices that draw the attention of passers-by so they inadvertently look directly into a camera

  • Digital security companies eye emerging e-health care market

    Gemalto joins SAFE-BioPharma Association; company said it will contribute its expertise in smart card-based solutions for authentication, network security, and digital signature — all essential elements of creating electronic health care business environment by 2012

  • Critic: U.K. fraud strategy "more worthy of Uzbekistan"

    Business fraud costs Britain £14 billion a year; the U.K. government today launched its National Fraud Strategy, but a Cambridge professor harshly criticizes the initiative

  • Banking card readers inherently insecure

    Hand-held bank card readers were designed to thwart online banking fraud, but cost-saving measures have resulted in design compromises that have left customers open to risk of fraud

  • PerSay in strategic partnership with INS Indriya in Singapore

    A leading voice recognition biometrics partners with a Singaporean technology consulting firm; voice recognition is slowly spreading in both e-commerce and in intelligence and law enforcement

  • BIO-key reports profitability for Q4, full year 2008

    Total revenue from continuing operations for the quarter ending 31 December 2008 was $3.9 million, representing an increase of 47 percent from the $2.6 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2007

  • Heartland says it has fixed security problem

    Heartland Payment Systems, the sixth-largest payment processor in the United States, processes payments for 250,000 companies; thieves install malicious program on company’s computers which captured data as it flowed across the network

  • Even in tough times, IT security should not be short changed

    In tough economic times, IT managers — as do other managers — look for ways to cut costs and expenses; they should realize, though, that in tough economic times IT security may become even more important than during more normal times