FOCUS ON BIOMETRICS

Nov 1, 2002 12:00 PM

Task Force Recommends Biometrics For Access To Sensitive Airport Areas

Biometric authentication mechanisms should be used to identify employees who require access to airport functional areas, says a report from the Silicon Valley Blue Ribbon Task Force on Aviation Security and Technology, San Jose, Calif. According to the task force, control of airport workforce, specifically in the Security Identification Display Area (SIDA), is weak due to inconsistent standards, uneven oversight, poor enforcement and multiple constituencies ranging from local to national authorities.

The report — a product of a series of meetings involving a range of perspectives including government, customers, security and the airline industry — addressed several recommendations with the aim of securing federal funding.

To eliminate the opportunities for unauthorized individuals to compromise the integrity of the workforce through the use of false identification, unauthorized presence in authorized areas and “piggybacking,” the task force suggests airports should implement a more reliable authentication process. The report addresses the following technologies available to implement biometric activity:

• an identification card with biometric information that combines a password or PIN the cardholder knows and the individual's unique characteristic, such as a fingerprint or iris scan; and

• biometric scanning devices networked at access control points where biometric data is collected from an individual and compared with biometric data on the card.

The task force, convened by Congressman Mike Honda (D-Calif.) and San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales, consists of a range of high-tech, aviation and community leaders from Silicon Valley and around the nation. Its objective is to leverage Silicon Valley technical leadership to develop a national strategy to increase airport security and passenger enhancements through a pilot effort at the Mineta San Jose International Airport.

FAA's Working Group On Biometrics

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has established the Aviation Security Biometrics Working Group (ASBWG), a multi-agency working group to accelerate its study of biometrics into existing airport security systems. Likely applications are employee identity verification and access authorization; protection of public areas in and around airports using surveillance; passenger protection and identity verification; and aircrew identity verification (ground and in-route). Co-chaired by the FAA and the Department of Defense (DOD) Counterdrug Technology Development Program Office, the group plans to present its findings to the FAA this month.

Comparative Testing, Round 4

International Biometric Group (IBG) will soon begin its fourth round of Comparative Biometric Testing, extensive scenario-based testing of biometric systems.

Since 1998, IBG's independent testing has generated detailed false match, false non-match, and failure to enroll rates for leading biometric systems, including finger-scan, facial-scan, iris-scan, voice-scan, signature-scan and hand-scan technologies.

In Round Four, systems from the following companies are being tested:

• finger-scan: Bioscrypt, Digital Persona, Fujitsu, Siemens, Identix, ST Microelectronics, Indivos, and Ultra-Scan;
• hand-scan: Recognition Systems;
• voice-scan: Nuance; and
• iris-scan: Iridian.

IBG will develop a framework for evaluating in a range of large-scale, mission-critical air travel applications, including smart card-based Trusted Travel, access control and surveillance. The Group's responsibilities will include:

• assessing issues involved in the development and implementation of an infrastructure for U.S. air travel, proposing alternatives and solutions to address performance, scalability and process flows;
• gathering complex requirements for multiple applications designed to provide transactional authentication and 1:N identification for millions of individuals;
• assessing the role of smart cards in a Trusted Travel framework, highlighting risks involved in biometric interoperability and standards; and
• delivering a feasibility study based on its Project Evaluation Framework to provide detailed recommendations and pilot guidance based on knowledge of core technology, biometric process flows, integration with existing systems and real-world performance.

The testing emulates real-world operational conditions as closely as possible. IBG testing uses commercially available systems, normalizing enrollment and verification effort levels across technologies to ensure that test results can be compared across competing systems.

AT A GLANCE

The global 2002 biometrics industry's revenues of $600 million are expected to reach $4.04 billion by 2007, driven by large-scale public sector biometric deployments, the emergence of transactional revenue models and the adoption of standardized biometric infrastructures and data formats.

SOURCE:
Biometric Market Report 2003-2007
International Biometric Group
www.biometricgroup.com

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