01/19/98 CYBERSECURITY AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

CYBERSECURITY AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

SOON YOU'LL BE ABLE TO KISS passwords good-bye. Your fingertip is all you'll need, thanks to a cheap fingerprint-reading system from Who Vision Systems Inc., a startup in Irvine, Calif. Its TactileSense technology essentially guarantees that only authorized persons can gain access to computers and networks. Yet it will cost just $25 to embed the fingertip reader in monitors and keyboards. Stand-alone fingerprint pads are expected to retail for $99. And prices might drop 50% with volume production, says Alexander G. Dickinson, founder of Who Vision and a former research manager at AT&T Bell Laboratories.
The sensor pad is a stamp-size sheet of piezoelectric plastic--it turns pressure into light. Put your finger on it, and it generates a glowing image of your fingerprint on the underside. This image is digitized and encrypted before being sent to a host computer for validation, so the fingerprint itself doesn't float around a network, where it might be vulnerable to theft.
Taiwan's Mag Technology Co., a leading maker of monitors, has signed on to produce 35 million pads for its own products and other manufacturers'. Look for the first fingerprint-savvy gadgets late this year.
EDITED BY OTIS PORT