U.S. Department of State looking to adopt system that captures and processes biometric identifiers

July 22, 2014
Stephen Mayhew

The Bureau of Diplomatic Security is seeking to adopt a new system which would allow it to electronically capture and process biometric identifiers to determine threats to the country, according to a report by Washington Technology. The department wants to use biometric enrollment data file plans to compare the data against other U.S. terrorist, intelligence and criminal databases to pinpoint potential criminals. The Bureau of Diplomatic Security is also looking to use the system for its own criminal investigations and

Russia MP proposes to enforce universal fingerprinting for all international visitors

July 21, 2014
Stephen Mayhew

A Russian MP is preparing a new bill that will recommend new security measures to make it mandatory for all international visitors to be fingerprinted on arrival in Russia and have the information stored in a single database, according to a report by RT.com. In his drafted bill amending the Federal Law on the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation, Mikhail Serdyuk of the Fair Russia parliamentary caucus suggests that all international visitors of the country should

GSN Airport, Seaport, Border Security Awards Program recognizes achievements in biometrics

July 21, 2014
Stephen Mayhew

Government Security News recently announced the winners and finalists in its 2014 Airport, Seaport, Border Security Awards Program, which included achievements by some of the top players in the biometrics field. Iris technology firm IRIS ID took the award for winner of Best Biometric Identification/Authentication Facility in the category for access control and identification. Also under the Access Control/Identification category, identity management security firm Entrust was named winner of the “Best ePassport Solution”. In the category for detection solutions, Global

FBI, Department of Defense to open new biometrics center in West Virginia

July 21, 2014
Stephen Mayhew

The FBI announced it is working with the Department of Defense to expand the FBI center campus in Clarksburg, West Virginia with the addition of the Biometrics Technology Center. Set to open in 2015, the new 360,000-square foot center is directly adjacent to the current building, which has been in operation for about 20 years. Connect Clarksburg reports that the center will house both the FBI’s Biometric Services Section and the Department of Defense’s Forensics and Biometrics Agency and will

Department of Public Safety collecting fingerprints of Texans

July 21, 2014
Stephen Mayhew

The Department of Public Safety in Texas has been secretly gathering full sets of fingerprints from anyone applying for a new drivers’ license or a renewal, weeks in advance of when the new regulation was intended to go into effect, according to a report by Watchdog.org. Last month, the DPS adopted a regulation for a new policy that would allow it to take fingerprints of all Texas residents applying for a new driver license or renewal — a practice it

Homeland Security Week 2014 announces presentation topics and speakers

July 18, 2014
Stephen Mayhew

Homeland Security Week 2014 announced the details of its upcoming conference and trade show, which is expected to feature over 40 high level presentations on Homeland Security, more than 60 exhibitors, and over 700 attendees. The fourth annual Homeland Security Week conference and trade show will take place October 6 through 9 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington DC. According to the Homeland Security Week 2014 website, the event will attract representatives from DHS, CBP, TSA, ICE,

UK police test out NEC’s facial recognition solution

July 17, 2014
Stephen Mayhew

A police force in an English midlands county have been testing out NEC Corporation of America’s facial recognition technology, which recently identified a suspect captured on camera within seconds, according to a report by BBC News. The Leicestershire Police have been using NEC’s NeoFace system, which compares facial measurements taken from an image against a database which holds 92,000 images of people who have either been arrested or have volunteered to have their images stored, such as identity parade volunteers.

NEC’s face recognition technology tops NIST testing again

July 16, 2014
Stephen Mayhew

NEC Corporation announced that, for the third consecutive time, its face recognition technology was ranked the highest in performance in NIST’s Face Recognition Vendor Test 2014 performed by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology. The NIST report is considered an industry benchmark for assessing how accurate a face recognition software solution is in one-to-many searching in various circumstances. This marks the company’s third consecutive time its technology has performed better than other facial recognition solutions, following the 2009

Australian criminal intelligence agency to introduce biometrics identification system

July 15, 2014
Stephen Mayhew

CrimTrac, the national information-sharing service for Australia’s police, law enforcement and national security agencies, will replace the national fingerprint database used by law enforcement agencies with an expanded biometrics identification system, according to a report by IT News for Australian Business. The agency currently operates the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS), supported by Morpho’s operating system, which enables law enforcement agencies to upload fingerprints from crime scenes to help identify a suspect within minutes. Justice Minister Michael Keenan recently