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NuData Security strengthens online fraud detection with behavioural biometrics
NEWS/COMMENT ...Continued from page 11
investor
Investors back biometric development at Fuel3D and TruTouch
D
evelopers of biometric technology attracted significant investor interest in the closing weeks of 2014. Fuel3D, developer of 3D scanning solutions, closed a funding round totaling $6.4m (£4m). The funding round was led by Chimera Partners and will be used to ramp up Fuel3D’s production, customer support and international retail distribution after it delivers on its Kickstarter and pre-order commitments. In addition, Fuel3D will use the funding to expand the scope of the company’s technology to address commercial opportunities in a range of vertical markets through its Fuel3D Labs division, including biometrics and eyewear. US-based TruTouch Technologies raised $5.2m from a variety of investors to expand its customer base for a device that shines light through the skin to quickly detect blood-alcohol level and authenticate a person's identity at safety-sensitive worksites. In addition to the workplace-focused applications, TruTouch is working with undisclosed automakers, the US Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on the same technology that could be used in vehicles.
behavioural
NuData Security strengthens online fraud detection with behavioural biometrics
N
uData Security has strengthened its online fraud detection solution, NuDetect with behavioural biometrics. Through the tracking and monitoring of subconscious behaviours, NuDetect is able to establish a biometric identifier without the need to interrupt a USERS EXPERIENCE NuDetect incorporates repetitive factors into its fraud prediction model, recognising and alerting customers to impersonation attempts (known as account takeover), passively and accurately. 12
Biometric Technology Today
By mapping the subconscious, NuDetect is able to build a profile of a user’s behaviour, and compare activity patterns against those of a potential impersonator. At a single user level, this includes how a user types, scrolls, how they hold their phone, etc.
banking
Banks look to wearables, fingerprint, voice and facial recognition
T
he banking sector has unveiled a number of biometric technologybacked innovations. Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), MasterCard and other Canadian issuing banks have begun piloting an NFC version of Nymi, a biometrically authenticated wristband that uses the wearer’s individual cardiac rhythm to verify their identity, according to NFC World. Bionym changed its name to Nymi in late 2014.
RBC told NFC World, “For the pilot we will be fitting a Nymi band with NFC to do contactless payments.” Users authenticate to the Nymi when they put the wristband on, and then stay authenticated until it is taken off. Nymi is inviting others to join the payments pilot. Westpac banking customers will be able to use Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint sensor to sign into new digital banking platform Westpac Live on their iPhone and use fingerprint sign in for Samsung Galaxy S5 and Note 4. Crossmatch’s DigitalPersona Pro Enterprise software and UareU 4500 fingerprint readers have been deployed throughout First Bank branches in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. The Crossmatch biometricsbased solution is mainly focused on log in requirements for its hosted core banking system. Digital bank Atom has attracted £25m of investment and plans to spend some of the money in customer identification and the use of biometrics – fingerprints, voice, facial recognition, iris recognition.
COMMENT In 2015 15% of mobile devices will be accessed biometrically – and that number will grow to 50% by 2020. This is the view of respected analyst firm IDC and it is not the only one making bullish predictions about the future of biometric technology. Acuity forecasts that intensifying demand for smartphones, tablets, and wearable mobile devices that incorporate biometrics will drive a global market of 2.5bn users with nearly 4.8bn biometric devices by 2020. At the same time, the biometrics industry is facing challenges from a number of revelations that the technology may be spoofed in novel ways. A German hacker posted online a fingerprint of the German defence minister implying that it would be enough to hack her biometric security. Jan Krissler, who uses the hacker name ‘Starbug’, is reported to have taken a photo of Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen’s thumb from a distance of three metres, and entered that and several other pictures of her thumb taken at other times into a programme called Verifinger to recreate the print. Over in the US, researchers at Binghamton University have discovered flaws with
facial recognition software. “If someone uses a camera to detect your face in order to determine your identity, we’ve discovered security flaws in the software that is commonly used for that kind of face identification,” says Scott Craver, professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. He adds, “I can walk up to a camera, if a camera identifies me as Scott Craver and I can hold up a certain printed pattern next to my face and it temporarily classifies me as someone else.” Biometric security has been spoofed before – the “gummy bears’ fingerprint recognition spoof using sweets is wellknown. Pundits will rightly point out that the challenges of spoofing successfully in practice mean that only a determined hacker will look to spoof the technology in very specific cases – most of us using TouchID to access our mobile devices, for example, have little to fear. However if biometric technology is to see mainstream acceptance and the biometrics industry is to achieve the growth predicted for it, it will need to work hard to address the security and privacy concerns that continue to arise. Tracey Caldwell
January 2015
investor
Investors back biometric development at Fuel3D and TruTouch
D
evelopers of biometric technology attracted significant investor interest in the closing weeks of 2014. Fuel3D, developer of 3D scanning solutions, closed a funding round totaling $6.4m (£4m). The funding round was led by Chimera Partners and will be used to ramp up Fuel3D’s production, customer support and international retail distribution after it delivers on its Kickstarter and pre-order commitments. In addition, Fuel3D will use the funding to expand the scope of the company’s technology to address commercial opportunities in a range of vertical markets through its Fuel3D Labs division, including biometrics and eyewear. US-based TruTouch Technologies raised $5.2m from a variety of investors to expand its customer base for a device that shines light through the skin to quickly detect blood-alcohol level and authenticate a person's identity at safety-sensitive worksites. In addition to the workplace-focused applications, TruTouch is working with undisclosed automakers, the US Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on the same technology that could be used in vehicles.
behavioural
NuData Security strengthens online fraud detection with behavioural biometrics
N
uData Security has strengthened its online fraud detection solution, NuDetect with behavioural biometrics. Through the tracking and monitoring of subconscious behaviours, NuDetect is able to establish a biometric identifier without the need to interrupt a USERS EXPERIENCE NuDetect incorporates repetitive factors into its fraud prediction model, recognising and alerting customers to impersonation attempts (known as account takeover), passively and accurately. 12
Biometric Technology Today
By mapping the subconscious, NuDetect is able to build a profile of a user’s behaviour, and compare activity patterns against those of a potential impersonator. At a single user level, this includes how a user types, scrolls, how they hold their phone, etc.
banking
Banks look to wearables, fingerprint, voice and facial recognition
T
he banking sector has unveiled a number of biometric technologybacked innovations. Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), MasterCard and other Canadian issuing banks have begun piloting an NFC version of Nymi, a biometrically authenticated wristband that uses the wearer’s individual cardiac rhythm to verify their identity, according to NFC World. Bionym changed its name to Nymi in late 2014.
RBC told NFC World, “For the pilot we will be fitting a Nymi band with NFC to do contactless payments.” Users authenticate to the Nymi when they put the wristband on, and then stay authenticated until it is taken off. Nymi is inviting others to join the payments pilot. Westpac banking customers will be able to use Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint sensor to sign into new digital banking platform Westpac Live on their iPhone and use fingerprint sign in for Samsung Galaxy S5 and Note 4. Crossmatch’s DigitalPersona Pro Enterprise software and UareU 4500 fingerprint readers have been deployed throughout First Bank branches in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. The Crossmatch biometricsbased solution is mainly focused on log in requirements for its hosted core banking system. Digital bank Atom has attracted £25m of investment and plans to spend some of the money in customer identification and the use of biometrics – fingerprints, voice, facial recognition, iris recognition.
COMMENT In 2015 15% of mobile devices will be accessed biometrically – and that number will grow to 50% by 2020. This is the view of respected analyst firm IDC and it is not the only one making bullish predictions about the future of biometric technology. Acuity forecasts that intensifying demand for smartphones, tablets, and wearable mobile devices that incorporate biometrics will drive a global market of 2.5bn users with nearly 4.8bn biometric devices by 2020. At the same time, the biometrics industry is facing challenges from a number of revelations that the technology may be spoofed in novel ways. A German hacker posted online a fingerprint of the German defence minister implying that it would be enough to hack her biometric security. Jan Krissler, who uses the hacker name ‘Starbug’, is reported to have taken a photo of Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen’s thumb from a distance of three metres, and entered that and several other pictures of her thumb taken at other times into a programme called Verifinger to recreate the print. Over in the US, researchers at Binghamton University have discovered flaws with
facial recognition software. “If someone uses a camera to detect your face in order to determine your identity, we’ve discovered security flaws in the software that is commonly used for that kind of face identification,” says Scott Craver, professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. He adds, “I can walk up to a camera, if a camera identifies me as Scott Craver and I can hold up a certain printed pattern next to my face and it temporarily classifies me as someone else.” Biometric security has been spoofed before – the “gummy bears’ fingerprint recognition spoof using sweets is wellknown. Pundits will rightly point out that the challenges of spoofing successfully in practice mean that only a determined hacker will look to spoof the technology in very specific cases – most of us using TouchID to access our mobile devices, for example, have little to fear. However if biometric technology is to see mainstream acceptance and the biometrics industry is to achieve the growth predicted for it, it will need to work hard to address the security and privacy concerns that continue to arise. Tracey Caldwell
January 2015