Biometrics and healthcare, cybersecurity, voter registration and law enforcement trending this week

Here is a recap of the most popular biometrics industry news that appeared on BiometricUpdate.com this past week.

Healthcare

The National Patient ID Challenge encourages innovators to participate in the creation and adoption of a private, secure and safe solution to ensure 100% accuracy in identifying patients in the U.S. In the first round entrants design a concept to solve the patient ID challenge and the final round will entail building prototypes to demonstrate the functionality and performance of the design concept. Top three in the concept round get $30,000 each and the winner of the final round wins $1,000,000.

MedicFP is incorporating Fujitsu’s palm vein biometrics solution as part of MedicFP’s Verify product, which is used to confirm a patient’s identity and eligibility before service is rendered or a claim is created. MedicFP LLC and Fujitsu will debut the biometrics-based patient identity validation solution at the Health IT Conference for 2016.

Cybersecurity

Dropbox has developed a new app specifically for Windows 10 devices that gives users secure biometric access to their stored Dropbox files by using their fingerprint, face or iris to unlock the app and gain access to all of their files. The app is available for download from the Windows Store.

Cornell’s Department of Computer Science has added four faculty members at Cornell Tech who are among the world’s elite for cybersecurity, privacy and cryptography research. The scientists are best known for their research and influence on industry, nonprofit and government practice with work in data encryption, cryptography, cryptocurrency, machine-learning and Internet of Things privacy and security.

Morpho (Safran) and Orange Cyberdefense have partnered to develop a complete range of cybersecurity products and services. Orange Cyberdefense will draw on Morpho’s expertise in biometrics and market Morpho’s security and digital trust solutions. Morpho will promote Orange Cyberdefense’s portfolio of cybersecurity solutions.

Voter registration

Uganda’s electoral commission (EC) met last week with representatives of the presidential candidates, political parties and other stakeholders to explain its decision to use biometric voter verification in the upcoming general election. Zimbabwe plans to introduce a biometric voting system ahead of the 2018 general elections and Pakistan is evaluating the usability and cost of electronic voting machines.

Fingerprints

In an effort to restrict mobile phone users from taking part in activities that threaten national security, the Saudi Ministry of Interior has begun to fingerprint anyone looking to buy a SIM card. The new law will see fingerprint data shared with the kingdom’s National Information Centre to verify the identity of any buyer who purchases a SIM card.

Synaptics demostrated its Natural ID fingerprint authentication technology under greater than 200μm cover glass to BiometricUpdate.com earlier this month at the Consumer Electronics Show. Synaptics’ under glass fingerprint solution is deemed a significant advancement and a critical next step to putting capacitive fingerprint sensors under the smartphone cover glass.

Banking

The UNHCR, Cairo Amman Bank and IrisGuard introduced EyeCloud, a new project in Jordan that delivers financial assistance to refugees through banking and biometric technology based exclusively on UNHCR biometric registration data. The EyeCloud technology, which uses IrisGuard portable iris-scanners, has been deemed by experts to be the most advanced refugee cash program.

South Africa’s Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba recently commented that allowing banks access to South Africa’s Home Affairs National Identification System (HANIS) prevents a fraud loss of around $19M USD per month and could reach $231M USD annually. The HANIS verification service is a public-private initiative that uses fingerprints to verify the identity of clients and prevent identity fraud‚ irregular insurance claims and related crimes.

Border security

In advance of a U.S. Senate homeland-security hearing this week about Canada’s plan to quickly accept 25,000 Syrian refugees, Canada’s ambassador to the United States outlined the security measures the Canadian government has taken to ensure the screening processes put in place are adequate including the collection of biometric information from refugees.

Unisys Corporation announced that its facial recognition solution has been deployed at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport in New York City to help U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) identify imposters attempting to enter the United States using fraudulent passports. The biometric identitfication system will initially be rolled out at three terminals this month at JFK.

Law enforcement

U.S. District Court Judge Jorge Alonso ruled that Facebook can’t be sued in Illinois for its “faceprint” database because the company doesn’t have enough connections with the state. The decision is in response to a lawsuit filed last summer against Facebook by Frederick William Gullen who alleged that Facebook violates a 2008 Illinois biometric privacy law.

Speaking at the Biometrics for Government and Law Enforcement conference, Amy Hess, executive assistant director of the FBI’s Science and Technology branch, said that the new FBI Biometrics Technology Center is using fingerprints, irises, palm prints, facial traits, body scars, DNA information and even voice patterns to speed up local, state and federal criminal investigations, including DHS border security operations.

New appointments

Credence ID has expanded its leadership team with the addition of Robert Garrigan as its new vice president of sales and business development for the Americas. Based in New York, Garrigan will be responsible for developing and supporting partners in North, Central and South America.

Pyramid Systems, Inc., a software solutions provider for federal government clients, announced that Joe Zimmerman has joined Pyramid as its chief operating officer. Zimmerman has previously served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps and holds a Master of Science degree in Systems Management from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.

Article Topics

banking  |  biometrics  |  Cornell  |  Credence ID  |  cybersecurity  |  Dropbox  |  EyeCloud  |  Facebook  |  facial recognition  |  FBI  |  fingerprint biometrics  |  Fujitsu  |  iris recognition  |  IrisGuard  |  morpho  |  Natural ID  |  palm vein  |  patient identification  |  Pyramid Systems  |  Synaptics  |  under display  |  UNHCR  |  Unisys  |  voter registration