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May 18, 2005
By Dan Tynan Are
you who you say you are? Answering that question may soon involve more than
simply handing over your ID. You may also need to hand over part of your
personal biology by submitting to a biometric scan. Voice,
face, and eye scanners have been a staple of Today,
facial recognition is used in airports to identify potential terrorists and at
casinos to finger card sharks. Schools use fingerprint and hand scanners to
restrict access to employees and students. Iris scanners help secure border
checkpoints and nuclear power plants, while banks are starting to use voice
prints to verify transactions made over the phone. A
company called Food Service
Solutions sells fingerprint-scanning systems to K-12 schools around the Grocery
stores have also begun experimenting with fingerprint scans to hurry shoppers
on their way and protect debit accounts from illegal use. But
what's the potential downside? Privacy watchers say that as biometric scanners
become more widespread, it becomes possible for organizations--companies, the
government--to create a detailed dossier of your physical movements as you pass
from one scanner to the next. If Starbucks can easily track your movements, so
can Uncle Sam, or your insurance company, or your spouse's divorce attorney, and
so on. And
for now at least, mistakes with these scanning systems are more common than
most biometrics system makers like to admit. In other words, they don't always
know that you are you. Still,
the technology is coming quick, and knowledge is power. Here's a quick primer
on the most common forms of biometrics. Fingerprints Where
have I seen this before? A common plot element of How
does it work? An
optical scanner captures an image of the ridges and furrows of your
fingerprint, then compares the minute details--the places where ridges end or
fork--against those of a fingerprint image on file. Where
is it used? Besides
solving crimes, fingerprints are used to gain entry to buildings or computer
information. For $50, you can buy a thumb scanner for your PC, such as
DigitalPersona's U.are.U, which uses your fingerprint to access files or log
on to Web sites. Fingerprints have also been tested as an alternate payment
system--a store could scan your thumb on your way out instead of your credit
card, and then charge your account. How
accurate is it? Electronic
fingerprint scans make the right match from 95 to 98 percent of the time,
according to the FBI. But accuracy varies depending on gender, racial
characteristics, and chemical residue on the fingers, such as pool chlorine or
household cleansers. Can
it be beaten? Yes.
In 2002, Japanese researcher Tsutomu Matsumoto demonstrated several ways to
create a fake
fingerprint out of gelatin that could be worn by an identity thief. Earlier
this year, Malaysian car thieves took a more direct route: They stole
a Mercedes that required fingerprint recognition to start the car, by
cutting off one of the owner's digits (thus giving new meaning to the phrase
'give someone the finger'). Voice Where
have I seen this before? In The Incredibles, superhero costume designer Edna Mode (the
voice of Brad Bird) uses voice verification to gain entry into her secret lab.
(She also undergoes an eye scan--see below.) How
does it work? The
sound, pattern, and rhythm of your speech is measured and assigned a numerical
score, then matched against those with similar scores. Where
is it used? As
with Edna, voice can be used to allow verified employees to enter secure areas,
but a more popular application is remote authentication via phone, especially
for banks and other financial firms plagued by identity theft. How
accurate is it? Getting
better, but still not as accurate as other biometrics. Voice verification is
highly susceptible to background noise and can be affected by the user's
physical condition (i.e., a head cold), as well as the equipment used--the same
person can be identified as different people when using different phones.
That's why voice is often used in conjunction with another biometric, such as a
face or eye scan as seen in The Incredibles. Can
it be beaten? Depends
on how sophisticated the voice-verification system is. A simple system that
asks you to repeat a fixed phrase can be defeated with a tape recording of the
authorized person saying that phrase. A system that combines verification with
requests for confidential information (such as a password) is much harder to
beat. Face Where
have I seen this before? In Tomorrow Never Dies, James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) uses
facial recognition to identify terrorist Henry Gupta (Rickey Jay) from
videotape captured at an arms deal gone bad. How
does it work? There
are several ways to perform facial recognition. The most common method uses a
camera to capture an image of your face, which is analyzed for certain
"nodal points," such as the distance between your eyes or the width
of your nose. A unique "template" (a series of numbers) is generated
based on these nodal points and then compared against other templates. Who's
using it? Security-conscious
businesses use facial recognition to let certain employees access sensitive
sites. Airports use it to scan for people on security watchlists; cities employ
the technology to spot criminals in public places; and several large How
accurate is it? According
to tests conducted by the National
Institute of Science and Technology, the best systems achieve 80- to
90-percent accuracy in controlled conditions. However, results vary depending
on lighting and the angle at which the face is presented, as well as the gender
and age of the person being scanned. The technology tends to be better at
verifying identity than at picking faces out of a crowd. Can
it be beaten? Yes,
but leave the Groucho Marx glasses at home and strap on the feedbag. Disguises
appear to have less effect on matches than sudden weight gains or losses. Some
systems have also been defeated by holding up photographs of authorized
personnel to the camera. Eyes Where
have I seen this before? In Minority Report, shoppers at a mall are identified via eye
scans as they walk by (and are then shown targeted ads that call them by name).
In a particularly gruesome scene, John Anderton (Tom Cruise) replaces his own
eyeballs to avoid being recognized by the Pre-Crime Police. How
does it work? There
are two forms of eye scans. A retinal scan measures the pattern of blood
vessels in the back of the eye, and is obtained by shining an infrared light
through the pupil. An iris scan can be performed using a video camera, and
examines the unique patterns of ridges on the colored portion of your eye. Who's
using it?Iris
scanners are starting to be used at airport security checkpoints, and some
airports have experimented with the technology to replace the check-in
kiosk--in this scheme, your eye is your ticket. Retinal scans are fairly
invasive and less common, but are still used to restrict access to military
installations, research labs, and other high-security areas. How
accurate is it? Both
retinal and iris scans are considered the most accurate biometric, but they
won't work in all cases. Retinal scans won't work on individuals who are blind
or have cataracts, while ambient lighting and the angle of your head can affect
the accuracy of iris scans. Ethnicity and eye color also play a role--the
darker your eyes, the harder it is for the scanner to tell where your pupil
ends and your iris starts. Can
it be beaten? To
some degree--and without gouging out your eyes. Colored contact lenses can
reduce the accuracy of iris scans, as can the use of drugs that dilate your
pupils. Some iris scanners have been defeated by holding up a high-resolution
photo of an "authorized" eye, with a hole cut to reveal the faker's
actual pupil. DNA Where
have I seen this before? In Gattaca, Vincent Freeman (Ethan Hawke) must provide a
pinprick of blood at the entrance to the aerospace firm where he works, so his
DNA can be verified against a database of genetically superior employees.
Freeman actually uses a fake fingertip filled with blood from Jerome Morrow
(Jude Law), until his identity is revealed through an eyelash he carelessly
leaves at a crime scene. How
does it work? A
person's DNA is obtained via a blood, saliva, hair, or skin sample. The length
and protein sequence of several small sections of the DNA strand are analyzed
to generate a "DNA profile," which is compared against other DNA
profiles. Who's
using it? Today
DNA testing is used almost entirely by law enforcement or in paternity cases.
Nearly every state collects DNA samples from people convicted of violent
crimes, and four states take them if you've been merely arrested, according to DNA Resource. The FBI's
DNA database has data from more than 2.1 million DNA samples. But because it
takes hours to analyze a DNA sample, we're still several years away from a
Gattaca-style biometrics scan, says Maud Meister, a consultant with the International Biometric
Group in How
accurate is it? The
odds of two people having the same DNA sequence are estimated at 6 billion to
1--unless they're identical twins. However, identical twins do produce
different iris and retinal scans, making eye scans a slightly more reliable
biometric. Can
it be beaten? Yes,
if you're Ethan Hawke, or if an imposter gets there ahead of you. If someone
obtains your DNA from, say, a strand of your hair and manages to obtain the DNA
profile associated with your identity, you're in for a world of hurt. Because
unlike a driver's license or a password, you can't replace your DNA. |
