The next time you’re in what you think is a long queue, spare a thought for the Indian government. As Wired reports,   last September, the govenment launched Aadhaar, India’s Unique Identification project. A task of monumental proportions, the projects aims to “issue identification numbers linked to the fingerprints and iris scans of every single person in India.”  With a population of more than 1.2 billion people, this is the most ambitious and difficult biometrics project to date. The next nearest database in size and scope is the Department of Homeland Security, which holds fingerprints and photos of 129 million people. Funded by billionaire Nandan Nilekani, the agency expects to be signing up 1 millions Indians a day, by the end of 2011.

The Media Online reports that real world and online commerce are moving closer together.  Most of us are now familiar enough with the launch of Google Wallet, an NFC based mobile payment service. Strongly backed by several major retail players, and financial institutions, Google looks set to move firmly into the mobile payment market, using Mastercard’s Paypass technology. On top of this, Google have also presented Google Offers which, in conjunction with the Wallet, ” …allows one to redeem offers and build up loyalty points at retailers using your cell phone.” This basically acts as an outright competitor with Groupon. They also appear to have used Offers to target the massive market currently under the watch eye of M-Pesa in South Africa. However, although Google remain a favourite, they are not without their failures, so their success in this space remain to be seen.

In the latest Facebook debacle, Germany have declared that the facial recognition that Facebook uses in “Tags” is too dangerous, and has threatened legal action unless the functionality is removed. Johannes Caspar, a data protection expert, says that: “The right to anonymity is in danger.” Facebook urges that this feature is contained and poses no threat. It is certainly possible for the facial recognition aspect to go a step too far. However, with Facebook toting a membership of 700 million, the question is, will the users care?

The financial services market has been using voice biometrics now for some time, but Phoenix based credit union Desert Schools Federal Credit Union  is the first to deploy the Finivation software VoiceVerify. The voice verification solution will be rolled out initially for 24/7 password resets, followed by ” out-of-band authentication for transfers.”  Interestingly, this move comes not long after the FFIEC has issued guidlines calling for multiple layers of security for financial institutions, of which credit unions are but one. As we have seen over the last few few years, voice biometrics has been a front runner in the call to arms against fraud, identity theft and customer dissatisfaction.

NDTV reports that Sberbank, Russia’s biggest retail bank, has rolled out a lie detecting, fraud preventative ATM. Customers are able to apply for a credit card without engaging in any human interaction. The machine: ” … scans a passport, records fingerprints and takes a three-dimensional scan for facial recognition. And it uses voice-analysis software to help assess whether the person is truthfully answering questions that include “Are you employed?” and “At this moment, do you have any other outstanding loans?” ” If the customer is not being honest about his/her ability to repay the loans, the machine will pick this up through nervousness and emotional distress. The system is developed by the Speech Tencology Center, who already utilise the voice stress system in other areas, such as telephone call centers.

Two articles in the BBC news directly relate to the ongoing need for greater security, awareness, and preparedness in today’s world. The National Fraud Authority states that identity fraud in the last year cost £ 1.2 billion, and that fraudsters obtain more than £1000 from every identity they steal. These are shocking statistics. Dishonest uses include buying goods or services, obtaining state benefits, or opening bank accounts under false identities. To add to this picture, the british government has announced in a new national security strategy that cyber attacks are one of the top threats to the UK. This has resulted in the assignation of £500 million to help combat the problem, which includes threats involving fraud and theft in online business transactions, as outlined above.

As some of you might know, the 2010 Biometric Consortium Conference and Biometric Technology Expo is finishing up today in Tampa, Florida. Among the huge amount of new advances being made in the field of biometrics, the Department of Homeland Security has stepped up a biometrics monitoring system, incorporating behavioural psychology and observation.  The prototype of Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST), can very rapidly measure, among other things: …”ocular changes, heart and respiration rates and even slight changes in the skin’s thermal properties as a way to detect suspicious behavior.” The prototype is specifically designed for those who might wish to cause harm to America, showing in ways which the DHS are dubbing the “Fidget Factor.” There are certain problems facing the idea, such as public acceptance and the possibility that it might go against the fifth amendment.

SpeechTechMag reports that the world’s first nationwide automatic voice identification system is being deployed in Mexico. The system will be using Speech Technology Center’s biometric platform, and will enable the complete management of  a voiceprint database. Law enforcement agencies will be able to search, collect and manage the voiceprints, helping in the fight against crime.  The platform can: “…compare short utterances recorded by various recording channels (microphone, land-line, GSM, Voice over Internet Protocol) regardless of the gender, age, language, or an accent of the speaker.”  Mexico is actually a pioneer in the field of voice biometrics, and boasts some of the most experienced professionals in the field. STC are currently negotiating similar platforms in various countries around the world. With the potential to grow to a $500 million dollar industry, voice biometrics / identification once again proves to be a strong emerging market.

If you are tired of typing your password every time you log back in Windows, you might want to to try the new biometric face recognition product released by Luxand. Blink! is available free for Windows Vista and  Windows 7 in both 32 and 64 -bit versions. After installation, the application takes a facial print through your webcam, and then appears at log in. If your face is authenticated, log in is immediate. If it fails for any reason, your standard password log in option is still there. I had great fun with this, and found it to be quite good. It recognised me with and without glasses, and with and without hats. However, it rejected several different people masquerading as me, including a family member of my gender. I would recommend it to try, even if only for awhile. Download at: http://www.luxand.com/blink/

DefCon Las Vegas. Where the best at getting into things are challenged by the best at keeping them out. As excited as we all can get at incredible new security technology, it is wise to remember that every new advancement is being monitored and studied by those whose lives and living it is to get past those same incredible security measures.  With new strides in biometrics, an article in Wired reported that it stood to reason that the Biolock Model 333 should have presented the greatest challenge. Not so. The lock, a combination of a fingerprint reader and a mechanical cylinder, proved to be the easiest to crack.  However, where exactly does the failure lie? As it turns out, not in the biometrics of the lock, but in the overall design. Should the fingerprint reader fail, the lock can be bypassed by the use of a mechanical key in a “concealed” key entry. This is what the lock hackers were able to open in two seconds. It is, as one of the professional lock hackers commented: “…an absolute perfect example of insecurity engineering.” It does seem absurd to tout a biometrically secure lock that is actually no different from a standard mechanical lock.