Passwords scrawled on a scrap of
paper are easily lost, jumbled letters and numbers are quickly forgotten and,
with “password” still the most popular password, it’s no wonder that identity
theft has become a million-dollar enterprise.
But now security experts may have hit
upon a type of identification that can't be lost, forgotten, or stolen: your
heart.
With usernames and passwords fast
becoming unreliable, companies are now turning towards our internal features as
an authentication alternative.
One of the new developments in this
line of research is the Nymi wristband being developed by Canadian firm
Bionym.
The hi-tech gadget monitors the
unique pattern of the wearer’s heartbeat, which can be used to wirelessly
unlock smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and cars. It may even be used to
pay for shopping, or act as a replacement for your credit card PIN number.
According to Foteini Agrafioti,
co-founder of Bionym, the Nymi identifies people “not just (by) their heart
rate, but the actual shape of their heartbeat.”
For nearly fifty years, cardiologists
have been aware that, like fingerprints, a person’s heartbeat is unique, and is
affected by heart shape, size, and position in the chest.
However, unlike fingerprints, a
heartbeat is near impossible to replicate. While fingerprints can be reproduced
with jelly or recovered from surfaces, the wristband is reportedly 99 per cent
accurate.
Karl Martin, Bionym’s CEO, says for
the Nymi to be fooled, a person would not only have to steal the device but
imitate the wearer’s heartbeat, something that can’t be preserved in jelly.
Although exercise or drug-taking may
impact the reading, Martin toldNew Scientist that “the system tolerates regular
variation”.
Alternative forms of identification
are nothing revolutionary. Iris scans use infrared to recognize the intricate
and unique structure of an individual’s iris and are now part of an airport’s
security process.
Google has filed a patent for users
to pull facial expressions – from a frown to eyebrow movement – to unlock their
Android phones, preventing the existing Face Unlock system from being duped by
photos. As an added security measure, “3-D rangefinder” lasers may be used to
study the contours of the face.
Proteus Digital Health has created a
pill that is powered by acid in the wearer’s stomach that creates a signal
picked up by mobile phones.
Meanwhile Motorola is developing
“Biostamps”, silicon tattoos with an electronic circuit, as a more permanent –
if not more shocking – alternative to passwords.
Despite all these other developments,
Bionym has come closest to finding a solution to the impracticality and
unreliability of passwords.
The Nymi can be preordered on 4
September for $79 (£50) for the first 250,000 orders, or $99 (£63) after, with
shipment beginning in early 2014.
Developers hope the new technology
will soon replace the endless list of forgettable and often embarrassing
passwords consumers are increasingly forced to remember, unlocking, as the
product’s site states, “a world of possibilities.
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