Thought your fingerprint was
secure? Think again. The unique pattern on the tip of your fingers can easily
be copied and used to access your most personal information.
As PIN
numbers and passwords prove redundant in protecting data, tech companies are
looking to convert bodily features into secure identity authenticators.
Bionym, the Toronto-based
biometrics technology company, have introduced The Nymi -- a wristband that measures heartbeats to
authenticate identity. Its embedded sensor reads the electrical pulses produced
by your heartbeat, which is unique to each of us.
"You leave your fingerprints
everywhere - you actually leave this impression which can be copied," said
Karl Martin, CEO and founder of Bionym.
"In
the future, you go into a store, you go to the terminal, you tap with your
wrist and that's it. You don't actually have to go through any of the friction
of pulling out a credit card. Your name pops up when you get to the ATM - you
don't have to enter a card or a pin because it knows who you are," he
added.
A future
filled with devices that automatically recognize who you are may seem a bit
daunting, however, as hackers become more successful in accessing personal
information, these smart devices look to save users a lot of hassle.
"Our
vision of the future is essentially everything that can be intelligent will be
personalized to you, and will behave differently based on who's there."
says Martin
This new
world of smart devices and the "Internet of Things" is a far cry from
the past where anti-virus applications were the only way to keep hackers out.
Now, such software is child's play for those eager to get a hold of our
information.
"In
the old world it was all about keeping your data in the center of a network and
building walls as high as you could with firewall, antivirus, all these
boundary controls," said Alastair Paterson, CEO of Digital Shadows, a
cyber-threat intelligence company.
"Today's
world just doesn't work like that anymore," he added.
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