The annual Smart Cards in Government conference will take place just a few days before the ominous October 27 PIV issuance deadline and just weeks before the Presidential election that is likely to impact many of the identification initiatives at the federal level. Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance, talks with re:ID host Chris Corum about the event scheduled for October 22-24 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.

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Privaris, a provider of wireless identification verification technology, has announced themselves being awarded two important patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The first patent protects Privaris’ plusID token which incorporates fingerprint biometrics and can be used with mobile devices or computers.

The second patent issued involves an interface utilizing a fingerprint sensor that would work through or be part of an LCD screen. In the future Prvaris plans to add touch screen interfaces that could authenticate a user before enabling them to operate the touch screen or particular components of it. Privaris now touts eight patents with more in process.  

CryptoMetrics, a developer of biometric technology, has announced that they have entered into a 25-year agreement with the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Ministry of Interior. The agreement makes CryptoMetrics the sole provider of face-recognition systems that are intended to augment the current security of the UAE and other countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council and Middle East and North Africa regions with the capability of identifying individuals and known criminals.

The U.S. Department of State has ordered an upgrade from Precise Biometrics, a fingerprint authentication technology developer, to its match-on-card system. The upgrade, costing $620,000, consists of adding Windows Vista support to the existing infrastructure as well as on-site support and integration services provided by Precise.

The two and a half day Biometric Consortium Conference 2008 is planned to be held in Tampa, Fla. September 23 through Sept. 25. The consortium will consist of presentations, seminars, panels and workshops covering biometric technology in homeland security, identity management, border control, e-commerce and other applications.

The conference is expecting more than 1000 attendants this year including government representatives, university representatives, biometric industry representatives and end users. Additionally, there are more than 100 speakers planned for including a panel of experts moderated by White House policy analyst for science and technology Duane Blackburn that will discuss the recently published Task Force on Identity Management.  

The United States Department of Homeland Security is developing a new technology that they are hoping will be able to predict whether or not people have bad intentions, according to a Wired article. The technology is being developed under a project called Project Hostile Intent (PHI) and will utilize a large array of surveillance and remote biometrics tools in its operation.

CoreStreet announced that the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs will use CoreStreet’s credential validation technology for the validation services required for its HSPD-12 smart card program

The VA will use distributed Responder Appliances from CoreStreet to provide validation of FIPS 201 compliant credentials used at central and regional offices of the VA.

Verizon Business is hosting and managing the Veterans Affairs credential solutions in a Verizon Business data center that is supported 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with critical services backed up by redundant systems including a hot back-up site with round-the-clock support.  

Ceelox, a developer of biometric access control systems, has adapted their access management tool, Ceelox ID, to be compatible with Citrix servers and computers. This is an important move for Ceelox as Citrix servers are in use in nearly all of the worlds largest 500 corporations.

The new partnership will result in a company’s ability to do away with passwords for computer, network, software and Web site access and instead replace them with fingerprints for authentication. Additionally, Ceelox ID is the first biometric identity and access management tool to allow multiple Citrix clients to work with as many Citrix servers as necessary. Ceelox executives are hopeful that their new partnership with Ceelox will help open up new business opportunities in new large markets.  

In the International Journal of Biometrics, Japanese researchers from Shizuoka University, Masakatsu Nishigaki and Daisuke Arai, explain that due to widespread use of biometrics, there is also a higher chance that a skilled fraudster could use stolen biometric information to fool current systems, according to a Science Daily article. Due to this they have turned their research to biometric technologies that won’t require a user’s data to be kept secret as it couldn’t be used against him.

Meesons, a UK-based installer of security doors and screens, has designed a new biometric access control system for Telecity Group, a European data-hosting company. The new system is expected to fill a number of Telecity’s needs such as reducing security costs, increasing employee efficiency and reducing the dependence on manned security stations.