The recent launch of the iPhone X and its new facial recognition unlocking technology have brought biometric security back to the conversations among the general public. Now, a team of scientists from the University of Buffalo (USA) has developed the ultimate security tool: a biometric system that analyzes the dimensions of the heart to unlock the phone or log on to the computer.
The alphanumeric password is already something new in this century and biometric security seems to be the way forward in the future, with fingerprints, retina scans and facial recognition being only the beginning, since each unique biological signature is currently being investigated as a potential form of security in this connected world. From an identification system based on body odor, to vein scanning, our body is full of unique biometric markers that can be used as a personalized access code.
Heart biometrics
Scientists at the University of Buffalo have taken heart biometrics one step further by creating a system that uses low-level Doppler radar to identify the unique shape and size of a person’s heart. With this biometric security system, we only have to get closer to unlock the device and move away to lock it.
The Doppler radar measures the heart and then continuously monitors it to make sure that no one else has stepped in to run the computer or device in question.
The technology is a secure and potentially more effective alternative to passwords and other biometric identifiers, according to the authors.
“We would like to use it for each computer because everyone needs privacy. Signing up and logging out is tedious, ” says Wenyao Xu, the study leader.
How does it work?
If the size and shape of the scanned heart matches that stored for that user in the database, the device is unlocked. The fact that the heart has been selected as a bulwark of safety is because the heart does not change throughout a person’s adult life (unless they suffer from some type of serious heart disease).
The signal strength of the system’s radar “is much lower than that of Wi-Fi”, and therefore does not pose any threat to health. “We live every day in a Wi-Fi environment and the new system is as secure as Wi-Fi devices. The reader is 5 milliwatts, even less than 1 percent of the radiation from our smartphones ,” Xu clarifies.
The system takes about 8 seconds to scan a heart the first time; afterwards, he is able to continuously recognize said heart.
This innovative security system uses the geometry of the heart, its shape and size, and how it moves to make an identification . “Two people with identical hearts have never been found,” Xu clarifies.
Advantage
The new system has several advantages over current biometric tools. First of all, it is a passive, contactless device, so there is no need to disturb the user to ‘log in’ when connecting. And secondly, it constantly monitors users. This means that the machine will not work if there is a different person in front of it. Therefore, people never have to remember to log out.
Xu plans to downsize the system and install it in the corners of computer keyboards and even smartphones.
Referencia: Cardiac Scan: A Non-Contact and Continuous Heart-Based User Authentication System -#Chen Song, #Feng Lin, Yan Zhuang, Wenyao Xu, Changzhi Li, Kui Ren (# Co-first author) 23rd ACM Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking Mobicom 2017
