Cell Phones and a Cashless Society

PhoneFactor Develops Biometric Verification System for Phone-Based Authentication

January 19, 2010

Infosecurity - Multi-factor mobile authentication firm PhoneFactor has developed a biometric verification system for its phone-based authentication platform.

The system uses biometric validation of a user's voiceprint to provide what it says is three-factor authentication.

The PhoneFactor biometric system uses something the user has (a telephone), something they know (a password), and something they are (their voice), to make authentication more reliable, the company says. It argues that voice-based identification is more feasible for many organizations than the current de facto standard for biometrics – fingerprint recognition – because it doesn't require expensive reader hardware to be deployed locally (not to mention the famed Gummi Bear attack).

The PhoneFactor biometric authentication system works by calling users when they log in. They answer the call and speak a passphrase to complete the login. The system analyzes key characteristics from the user's voice, such as pitch and rhythm. The system uses multiple voiceprint algorithms to minimise false negatives from background noise or minor variations in voice, PhoneFactor said.

Users enroll on the system through the PhoneFactor User Portal, or during the first authentication call.

"Because there are no tokens and no biometric readers to buy, deploy, and support, both the initial and ongoing costs for PhoneFactor are materially lower than other multi-factor authentication systems," PhoneFactor said.

PhoneFactor achieved international recognition late last year after discovering a fundamental flaw in the way that SSL worked, which sent implementors scrambling for a fix.

Fingerprint Identification and RFID Tag Readers in Future iPhones?

July 2, 2009

MacRumors.com - ... A very intriguing patent application suggests the detection of a user's individual fingerprints as an input method. Fingerprints have already been used in computers for security purposes, but Apple's research involves the use of fingerprint patterns to actually identify distinct fingers. This could then be used to produce specific functions depending on which finger is being used. As shown in the table below, an index finger press might perform one action (PLAY/STOP) while a middle finger press could fast forward.


The reason for such a distinction again falls back on non-visual usage. Instead of requiring the user to find a button on the touchscreen, the use of different fingers alone could trigger different commands.

Finally, the last notable application covers the dual use of a touch screen as an RFID reader. RFID tags are small circuits that can be embedded in objects for identification using a special reader. Apple suggests that an RFID antenna can be placed in the touch sensor panel itself, allowing it to also be used as a RFID reader. As RFID tags become more prevalent, this could add a very useful function to future touch screen devices.

Mobile RFID Reader Brings Big Brother To Your Pocket (December 17, 2008)
For the lovable on-the-go security informants in your family, the first portable RFID printer is now available as a great last-minute gift. And nothing says "Merry Christmas" and "We Trust You and All of Your Decisions, Honey" like an RFID tag machine... So if you and your family feel like the world is just not intrusive enough and you need to know where every single thing you own is at all times, this RFID reader is a fine option.

10 Mobile Phone Trends of 2010

December 24, 2009

dialaphone - There are a lot of predictions going around about what is going to happen in the mobile phone business in the next year or so. There are thoughts about which phones are going to be released, which companies are going to go belly up, and which applications are going to be the ones that get downloaded most often. Some of these things will come to pass, of course, and some of them won’t.

But there are a few things that we can be a little bit more certain of because we have seen the beginning of them starting already in 2009. These are trends that began to grow in the past year and will continue to become more and more important and prevalent in 2010.

Ten mobile phone trends that are almost certain to grown in 2010 are:

Increase in mobile banking. One of the biggest mobile phone trends to really begin to take off in 2009 has been developments in mobile banking. It isn’t just that people are using the mobile web to access their accounts of receiving text message alerts from their banks. It’s that technology is improving to the point where you can actually use your phone to make payments at the point of purchase. This is going to be something that we start to see implemented in more and more places in 2010.

Mobile coupon use will become commonplace. As more and more people start to use their phones to make payments at the point of purchase, those people will also start looking at ways to decrease the cost of their spending using mobile phones. People are already starting to get mobile coupons which are accessed right on the phone and used at various stores. Both cell phone use and coupon use are on the rise, so it’s no surprise at all to think that 2010 is going to be a year when mobile coupon use will increase dramatically.

Use of renewable resources to power phones. There is a huge emphasis on the use of renewable resources across the globe right now. In the mobile phone industry we have seen a lot of advances in the use of solar power and are starting to see emerging advances in the area of wind power. We are going to see more use of those products in 2010 at both the individual consumer level and the carrier-wide level.

Smartphones will truly become the norm. It is fairly common for the average person in a first world country to own a smartphone today. It’s going to become even more common in 2010. We are past the stage of early adoption and have moved on to the stage where buying a smartphone is more the norm than buying a mobile phone that isn’t so smart. Touchscreen smartphones will likely continue to rise in popularity. The development of more Android phones will lead to an increase in purchases in this area specifically.

Mobile artists will keep producing new creative works. The attention that the media gives to mobile phone artists (including writers of cell phone novels, mobile phone sculptors and filmmakers who use the mobile phone as a camera) seems to ebb and flow. Some years there is a lot of attention given to this topic and other years it’s barely noticed at all. Despite this ebb and flow of attention, mobile phone artists continue to create new works and to put them out into the world year upon year. This will continue to be the case in 2010.

Mobile VoIP will continue to grow slowly but steadily. There was a lot of hype about mobile VoIP a couple of years ago. However it never really took off as boldly and pervasively as people predicted. It’s not going to hit the market in a huge way in 2010 either but it will continue to grow surely and steadily at a slow but increasing pace. People are saying that 2010 could be the year of VoIP in general, but it’s probably just going to be another year where some people use it and others don’t.

New laws will be made around mobile phone sales and use. As mobile phone use becomes more and more commonplace, we are establishing more and more regulation for it. There are already many cell phone laws in place which relate to when and where phones can be used. More laws will be made especially in the area of notification about radiation emissions.

Security threats will become a bigger issue. As mobile phones becomes more similar to computers they become open to greater and greater threats by hackers. Security issues for mobile phones are always a concern at the start of any new year. They will be a concern in 2010 as well. This is particularly true as people begin using these phones to replace laptops and doing more and more of their financial transactions on their phones. New software to improve the security of mobile phones is likely to emerge in 2010.

Mobile broadband speeds will increase. People want speed. They want to be able to access the mobile web on their phones just like they do on their home computers or laptops. This means that the speed of the mobile web is going to need to get faster. The development of new LTE systems to allow for faster mobile broadband is going to be something that gets a lot of attention in 2010.

Attention will be given to improving battery power and network capabilities. As mobile phones do more and more things, they are draining their batteries more quickly. They’re also taxing the network. We’re already starting to find ways to remedy these problems in 2009, but it’s going to be something that we do a lot of work on in 2010. Creating new technology that can handle our modern use of mobile phones is going to be a key aspect of the mobile industry in the year to come.