Biometrics stymie ID thieves

Cross Match Technologies, a global provider of interoperable biometric identity applications and solutions, is urging the addition of biometric data to the US Department of Homeland Security's (DHS's) basic pilot programme to end illegal employment obtained through the use of stolen identities of US citizens.

Recent DHS raids on Swift & Co meat-processing plants in six states, resulted in the arrest of hundreds of employees who used the stolen identities and Social Security numbers of US citizens and lawful permanent residents to obtain employment, which could have been prevented had biometric checks been a part of the programme.

Swift & Co had been utilising the DHS basic pilot programme to verify employment eligibility and immigration status against Social Security and Homeland Security databases. The basic pilot programme has a significant loophole, however, as it solely verifies biographic information such as name, date and place of birth, Social Security number and alien registration number to confirm identity and immigration status, rather than a combination of biographic and biometric data. By using biographic checks alone, undocumented workers can present valid, stolen information from US citizens and lawful permanent residents to gain employment. This type of fraud will continue to escalate surrounding DHS's heightened worksite enforcement efforts unless another mechanism is introduced.

Secure ID provider Digimarc is serious about "one driver, one licence", and to assist US states in reaching that goal, has launched an Anti-Fraud Service utilising facial recognition software that can weed out duplicate licences issued to the same person by comparing all facial images stored in the drivers' licence database against each other.

The Anti-Fraud Service reduces the effort and cost required to implement Digimarc Biometric Identification later as it uses the same software and processes, but is delivered as a one-time service.

According to a 2006 Federal Trade Commission report, consumer complaints of identity fraud and theft increased by 25% between 2003 and 2005, with total economic losses to consumers of approximately $5 billion and a total cost to businesses of over $48 billion.

The British Airport Authority (BAA) has implemented a limited scale trial of three integrated biometric-driven security systems at London's Heathrow airport. The miSense, miSenseplus and miSenseallclear systems are designed to speed up and simplify passenger check-in; boarding and arrival procedures while at the same time strengthen security.

Making use of biometric facial, fingerprint and iris recognition technology, as well as data encryption, security and systems integration, the trial will last until 31 January.

Passengers travelling from Heathrow to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific, and between Heathrow and Dubai with Emirates airlines, are eligible to participate in the trial run.

Cogent Systems says its biometric fingerprint technology is integrated by 3M for the first operational implementation of the Seafarers' Identity Document (SID) programme by a ratified country of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) agreement, taking place in Nigeria.

Cogent's SID products include its fingerprint algorithmic technology and software development kit (SDK) bundled with Cogent's optical fingerprint scanners. The SID employs biometric identity verification to help officials accurately verify the cardholder's identity, consequently allowing seafarers easier entry to foreign ports.

The 3M system converts document holders' fingerprints into a biometric template then encodes the prints into an internationally standardised, two-dimensional bar code printed on the SID card. The biometric components of the system help to ensure interoperability, meaning that the biometrics written by one country can be read by another.