From: Bob Padgett 
Subject: Mark of the Beast
Message-ID: 
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 11:25:03 -0500 (EST)


Subject: Banks eyeball sci-fi style identification for ATMs
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 1995 10:20:05 PDT

     NEW YORK (American Banker) - Biometric identification, a process
formerly seen only in futuristic movies and high-security government
offices, may soon become part of the most common consumer banking
transactions.
    Bankers' interest in biometric ID -- a sophisticated antifraud
measure that exploits the fact that every human possesses unique
physical characteristics -- dates back more than a decade.
    But until recently most banks and equipment manufacturers have
watched the development of technology that recognizes fingerprints,
voices, and other personal traits from a distance.
    That has begun to change, experts said. One of the companies
leading the charge toward everyday use of biometric identification in
banking is Sensar Inc., a Princeton, N.J.-based company that is
developing an automated teller machine application for its patented
Iriscan process.
    According to experts, the eye is one of the most unique parts of
the human body and the iris biometric more reliable than virtually any
other, including fingerprints and voice.
    Voices change over the course of a life, and fingerprints
sometimes disappear on people who work with their hands.
    By contrast, the iris, which is the colored area of the eye, is
stable throughout a lifetime. They are thoroughly unique and naturally
visible.
    In a nutshell, the company's product, to be sold under the name
Irisident, is being designed to capture an image of a consumer's eye
and match it to an image on file before authorizing an ATM
transaction.
    ``The research that's been done with consumers indicates they like
the idea of having biometric verification -- it gives them a feeling
of greater security,'' said Liam Carmody, a principal with the
Ridgewood, N.J.-based consulting firm Carmody & Bloom. ``But they
don't want intrusive verification.''
    Sensar officials understand that the use of the eye as an
identification tool is likely to meet with skepticism from some
bankers, who wonder whether consumers will rebel against it.
    However, they said their ATM application -- which should be
available in prototype in the next few months -- is being designed to
address the consumer concerns. And they insist that Irisident products
will be of practical use to bankers.
    ``We are operating under the assumption that the consumer is not
going to put his eye up to something to be scanned,'' said Kevin
McQuade, vice president of strategic business development at Sensar.
    ``The breakthrough here is the ability to obtain the image of the
eye unintrusively,'' said Thomas Drury, president and chief executive
of Sensar, which is a unit of the David Sarnoff Research Center Inc.,
also based in Princeton.
    Several influential companies have committed money to the
development of an ATM application for Sensar's technology, including
Huntington Bancshares Inc., OKI Electric Industry Ltd., and a money-
center bank that does not want to be identified.
    Though the bankers declined to discuss their investment in the
project, OKI Electric has committed a minimum of $25.8 million for
development funding in return for the exclusive rights to market the
products in Japan, where the Tokyo-based company is the leading vendor
of ATMs.
    Experts said this support shows that the financial services
industry is looking for alternatives to the personal identification
numbers and computer passwords that have been compromised with
increasing frequency in recent years.
    The choices are many, and include fingerprints, on-line signature
verification, and even the measurement of facial thermal zones.
    ``Bankers are interested in alternatives to the PIN,'' said V.
John Stroia, a marketing manager with Diebold, Canton, Ohio. Diebold
and IBM operate an ATM joint venture known as InterBold.
    ``The major barrier is not so much the technology as getting the
customer acclimated to'' using biometric technologies. But, he added,
capturing sensitive biometric data -- such as that from the eye or
face -- ``is going to have to be covertly done.''

--

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A l b e r t   N a n o m i u s            http://www.newciv.org/~albert/



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