Topic: NTT
Category: Other
Technorati: Linking Blogs

Every time I think of fingerprint recognition, though, I recall that part in...that o­ne movie, where the bad guy cuts off some dude's finger to use it o­n the fingerprint recognition gate.

But guess what? Apparently certain fingerprint recognition devices have protection against this sort of thing.

NTT and NTT Electronics have developed a small USB device that can store up to 120 passwords, 63 characters long - and will output them to a PC when o­ne uses its fingerprint recognition function.

NTT Corporation and NTT Electronics Corporation (hereafter, NEL) announced o­n the 8th that they have developed the "FingerQuick," a fingerprint recognition token, and that NEL will begin selling it o­n the 10th. Two products, the standard "FQB-10," and the o­ne-time password "FQO-10" will be made available o­n not o­nly directly from NEL, but the former from Touwa Coporation, and the latter from Marubeni Solutions Corporation. Although they are Open Price, indicators suggest that o­ne token should cost around 20,000 yen; also, volume discounts are planned to be made. Supported operating systems are Windows 98 SE, ME, 2000, and XP.

The FingerQuick is a fingerprint recognition token that connects via USB. Passwords are recorded into it beforehand, and it will output them to the PC - but since it is recognized as a USB keyboard by the PC, no special device drivers are needed. Passwords up to 63 characters long can be saved, so o­ne could retain a high level of security by simply setting a long password almost impossible for humans to remember. If biometric technology such as this fingerprint recognition is used, there won't be worries about losing something, theft, or borrowing/lending commonly associated with using o­nly a password or IC cards, making for reliable security.

On the data retention side, passwords stored inside of the FingerQuick are encrypted, and can o­nly be decrypted with a fingerprint comparison. In addition, since fingerprint comparisons are carried out inside the FingerQuick itself, the fingerprint data can be used without outputting it to the PC or system side.

The FQB-10 can stored up to 12 passwords for each finger, and the device supports operation in such a fashion that the index finger is for Windows login, the middle finger is for opening up encrypted Word files, etc.

The FQO-10 is a USB token containing a o­ne-time password generation algorithm that supports Secure Computing Corporation's fingerprint verification server. When this algorithm is used with the FQO-10, it makes for a solution consisting of both fingerprint verification and a o­ne-time password. The o­ne time password is assigned to o­ne finger in particular, and the remaining 9 fingers can be assigned fixed passwords in the same way as the FQB-10, meaning that the o­ne-time password can be used for o­ne device, and the fixed passwords can be used for other things.

NEL is releasing this device in accordance with their recent focus o­n strengthening security, and including the NTT group, plans sales of 30,000 units in a year, or 600,000,000 yen.



Inspired by:
http://enterprise.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/security/2004/06/08/2523.html

Press Release:
http://www.nel.co.jp/new/information/2004_06_08.html