Saturday, March 23, 2013

EyeVerify. With retinal scanning in phones, mobile biometric authentication is looking serious.

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I must confess that the term "eyeprint" is new to me, but like any good pupil, I am always looking to learn.

While the term doesn't even have a wikipedia page yet (as of this writing), the use of retinal scans for identification is not something new. Military establishments and intelligence & law enforcement agencies across the globe have been using retinal-scanning authentication for years, and we know that employees of The United Federation of Planets will be using the technology many years from now.

But is retinal scanning about to go mainstream and mobile? A number of firms are working on bringing the technology to smartphone platforms. By using either the front-facing or back camera on a device, software could use the available hardware on the device to scan the user's retina for authentication either alone or in unison with other identifiers.

Here is a demo/pitch from a company called EyeVerify. At first look, this process seems a bit awkward for common tasks, like opening the lock screen. But biometrics in smartphones has certainly been creeping along with facial, fingerprint, voice recognition implemented in devices. And soon some company will come along and move biometrics from slightly gimmicky to truly magical. It's something to look forward.




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