Practical Biometric Passwords Infiltrate the US Military

Humans are always striving to create the next big security measure against the massive wave of online threats. One topic consistently in discussion is biometrics as a security measure, which take advantage of unique biological aspects of users in order to maximize security. Now, the US military is seeing the value of this kind of technology, and they’re funding a campaign to make it available to users.

As reported by Sky News, the deal, which is worth multiple millions of dollars, is to be carried out by researchers at West Point. The concept is slightly different from previously proposed biometric technologies, focusing primarily on behavioral traits rather than physical traits. This can involve variables like how you move your mouse, or how you unlock your smartphone. These are called cognitive fingerprints, which are described as such:

Just as when you touch something with your finger you leave behind a fingerprint, when you interact with technology you do so in a pattern based on how your mind processes information, leaving behind a “cognitive fingerprint”

Another example used is stylometrics, which analyzes the structure and text of a writer to determine whether their writing is the real deal or copied from somewhere else. This is similar to the way that academic institutions identify authorship. The project, which is already in its fourth phase, has been primarily headed by West Point up until now. It’s expected to make landfall to the general public for uses such as online banking, shopping, or wireless device login credentials.

Whether or not something like this is a good thing is yet to be determined. Some are concerned that it will allow for more in-depth monitoring of personal habits. There has already been quite a bit of controversy over the NSA’s monitoring of the general public for some time, and some folks are worried that this type of authentication may lead to breaches in user privacy. Only time can tell if these measures will be effective at keeping user credentials and activity safe from prying eyes.

We don’t know how effective biometrics will be for password security, but we do know how to keep threats out of your business’s network. With Computerware’s Unified Threat Management device at your disposal, you’ll equip your business with a firewall, antivirus, content filtering, and spam blocking in one comprehensive enterprise-level solution. This gives you the power to avoid malicious entities while destroying those that do manage to get into your system. Give us a call at (703) 821-8200 to learn more.