Security at Your Fingertips

Reported May 2006

FAIRFAX, Va. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Online hackers can steal just about anything, from your identity, to your credit cards and bank balance. Now, consumers can fight back. Using the power of touch can protect your personal information.

Dominic DeSantis dares anyone to try and hack into his personal PC files. "I have different files on my desktop that you can't open without passwords," he says.

Tough password tactics may slow down a cyber thief, but it's not foolproof. Now, electrical engineers have developed this new security device that uses a one-of-a-kind access code -- your fingerprint.

"It becomes a personal identification device that you carry with you, and the device only works for you," says Barry Johnson, Ph.D., an electrical engineer at Privaris, Inc., in Fairfax, Va. "The fingerprint, being something that you are, is something you that you will not forget."

With the touch of a finger, online access is a cinch for credit card purchases, viewing bank balances, or checking e-mail -- all without remembering or typing a single password or PIN number. Once you scan your finger, the device compares the scan to your fingerprint data, or biometrics already stored in the device.

"The ability to not only store the fingerprint on the device, and only on the device, but to do that securely is a unique feature of the device," Johnson says. He says the new device can work with existing security systems and also works for access into buildings.

It's a unique way to help consumers like DeSantis stay secure with something he'll never lose.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Stephanie Schuckers, Ph.D.
Electrical and Computer Engineer
Clarkson University
(315) 268-6536
sschucke@clarkson.edu

For more information about engineering:

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
IEEE-USA
1828 L Street, N.W., Suite 1202
Washington, D.C. 20036-5104
(202) 785-0017
ieeeusa@ieee.org
http://www.ieee.org

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