DigitalPersona's answer to iTrust?
NEWS_ TEST CENTER EXCLUSIVE
At last, A Biometrics Outlet
DigitalPersona e-security system includes channel program
By Frank J. Ohlhorst, CRN
New York
2:05 PM EST Fri., Jan. 12, 2001
Like water in a brimming dam, biometric devices keep
rising in number but have nowhere to flow. The
reason: a lack of innovative channel programs.
DigitalPersona's U.are.U Online e-security solution
stands to change that with a program aimed at
generating integration and subscription income for
Web integrators, ISPs and ASPs.
Slated to be available within a month, U.are.U Online is
designed to remedy the inherent difficulty in
authenticating users over the Web. Its main
components are the U.are.U fingerprint scanner, a
subscription-based online authentication service and
back-end integration tools for the destination Web
servers.
DigitalPersona guarantees
privacy and security with a
unique process. A client
object is installed on the
remote PC, which coordinates the encrypted
communication between the fingerprint sensor and the
U.are.U Online authentication server. When the user
authenticates, the client object passes an encrypted
fingerprint template to DigitalPersona's hardened Network
Operations Center.
Once the registered template is verified, a previously created random number is passed
to the host system via a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connection using a public/private
key pair. The SSL key is unique for each user account. Verified users then are granted
access.
The actual fingerprint image is never transmitted, and no personal data is stored. Any
individual trying to gain access to sensitive information would have to compromise at
least three distributed systems. Digital Persona further enhances security with a
proprietary, session-based challenge-and-response protocol, which renders any
captured data useless to hackers invading a system via captured sessions.
Integration is accomplished by modifying registration and logon HTML code,
modifying user databases and installing the appropriate U.are.U server executables.
DigitalPersona's service integration pack provides the necessary tools and examples
for the most popular Web servers.
U.are.U is intuitive and easy to deploy. Remote users are required to install a
USB-based fingerprint scanner and client software and register with the U.are.U
Online service.
U.are.U Online scales well for industries, such as financial services and health care,
that require high-level security and ease of use. It also lets solution providers add
biometrics functionality to Web-based solutions while garnering profits from
subscription services and initial integration tasks.
crn.com
steve |
