Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Now your walk can be your password!

Soon, your walk can be your new password 

Scientists are advancing biometrics security systems a step further by developing 'biosoles' that can recognise you based upon your unique walk. 

Researchers from the Carnegie Mellon University's Biometrics Research and Identity Automation Lab are developing new ways to enable security based on body's movements, which, unlike retinal scans and fingerprints, can't be taken from an individual, the New York Daily News reported. 

The new discipline called "pedo-biometrics" uses a "BioSole" inserted into shoes to assess a wearer's gait, matching that distinctive pattern against an existing record to verify the person's identity. 

Biometrics have a decided advantage over passwords because they don't rely on users' ability to remember them, the system identifies users based on something they are, for example with a retina or fingerprint scan. 

Most authentication systems need "things you know", but more advanced systems need "things you are", explained NBC News. 

Fingerprints and retina scans fall into the latter category but can still be penetrated - by amputating the corresponding body part. 

The university is teaming up with Autonomous ID, a company based in Ottawa, Canada, to create passwords based on behavioural validation. 

Scientists are advancing biometrics security systems a step further by developing 'biosoles' that can recognise you based upon your unique walk. 

Researchers from the Carnegie Mellon University's Biometrics Research and Identity Automation Lab are developing new ways to enable security based on body's movements, which, unlike retinal scans and fingerprints, can't be taken from an individual, the New York Daily News reported. 

The new discipline called "pedo-biometrics" uses a "BioSole" inserted into shoes to assess a wearer's gait, matching that distinctive pattern against an existing record to verify the person's identity. 

Biometrics have a decided advantage over passwords because they don't rely on users' ability to remember them, the system identifies users based on something they are, for example with a retina or fingerprint scan. 

Most authentication systems need "things you know", but more advanced systems need "things you are", explained NBC News. 

Fingerprints and retina scans fall into the latter category but can still be penetrated - by amputating the corresponding body part. 

The university is teaming up with Autonomous ID, a company based in Ottawa, Canada, to create passwords based on behavioural validation. 

Gait analysis is already being used as a sophisticated laboratory technique by which modern electronics are used to incorporate information from a number of inputs to illustrate and analyze the dynamics of gait. It describes for the clinician (physician, surgeon, therapist) in quantitative and dynamic terms the movement of the body and its limbs and the changing relationships of one extremity to other extremities during motion (e.g.: walking, leg raising). It helps the clinician judge what are the forces resulting in a dysfunction in movement of a limb and what is the result of compensating for the dysfunction; to put it another way, what is cause and what is effect. 

Though China has developed Gait already as a toll for espionage and security purposes, much is not known about it due to high security and secretive practices in science and research by Chinese authorities.

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