Peter Gutman said:
>> Smart cards with thumbprint readers are one step in this
>> direction, although they're currently prohibitively expensive.
American Biometrics (www.abio.com) has their Biomouse II, which I once
heard was supposed to retail around $250 or so. The old finger-only
Biomouse should cost about half that much.
No doubt this is "prohibitive" for many users. Plus you have to ask what
level of threat you're willing to accept. Some guys did a terrific article
on thumbprint readers and found the Biomouse reader couldn't be tricked by
a photocopied fingerprint (like some competitors) but could be tricked some
other way (I forget the details). The more you pay for the reader, the
harder it is to forge the fingerprint.
This suggests interesting implications if people start using thumbprints
with, say, ATMs. How good does the ATM's thumb print reader *really* have
to be? What about those cheap machines sprouting up all over the place? In
some ways the thumbprint based ATM technology might pose greater risks than
PINs. At least people are warned to keep their PINs secret. There's no
cultural tradition to keep your fingerprints off of things (unless you're
performing a criminal act).
Rick.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"Internet Cryptography" at http://www.visi.com/crypto/
