Yehuda Conforts, editor of InformationWeek-Israel
Direct link to this page: https://www.hayadan.org.il/biometri100903.html
One in eight adult citizens in the United States fell victim to identity theft online last year. In other words, crooks were able to access the personal information of Internet surfers, forge their credit cards or ID cards and party at their expense. This is according to a study by the Federal Trade Authority published this weekend in the world's leading networks. In total, there are 9.9 million victims, the damage caused to the American economy is estimated at 48 billion dollars, and another indirect damage of XNUMX billion dollars.
Intermediate: The British go for biometrics
One of the methods that is currently being developed to protect us from the hackers, who found an easy and "white" way to rob billions without making any effort, is the biometrics-based identification method. The intention is to add a fingerprint and iris dimension to the smart cards, which are already being used in many countries by organizations and companies.
Shlomo Meshulam, the marketing director of the Komada company, drew my attention to a news item published not long ago by the London Evening Standard's political reporter, Ben Lippman. The news says that the British Home Office has announced that smart cards, which will be used as identity cards and contain fingerprint and iris data, will be trialled by the English Home Office for a period of six months. The trial, which will begin this fall, marks a move by the British Home Secretary, David Blunkett, to start using the smart cards integrated with biometric identity.
Disagreements prevailed in the British government regarding this application. The main dispute revolves between the Minister of the Interior and the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Blanket decided to establish a fact on the ground, despite Blair's warnings last month, regarding "huge logistical cost and expenses to be resolved" before the test. The Minister of the Interior hopes that the smart identity cards will prevent fraud and identity theft, and will help the authorities act against terrorism and illegal immigration. The experiment, which will begin in a city that has not yet been named (probably a commercial city), with a population of about 10,000 inhabitants, will be completed by April. The Ministry of the Interior said it would receive responses and then evaluate the responses.
This announcement by the British government comes after the French government distributed to citizens through the company Certplus (a representative of Verisin in France and owned by Franstelecom, Gamplus and Verisin) - approximately one million smart cards with electronic signatures, and declared Picay as the chosen application method for secure electronic identity and in accordance with the European directive.
It seems that even on this subject of electronic identity and security - the French and the English do not see the reality eye to eye...
A smart card is a plastic card similar to a credit card that contains a tiny computer chip. A smart card, combined with a smart card reader, is used as an identification component (by a digital certificate or code) and as an authentication component (comparing biometric data against the information on the card).
The fingerprint is used as an identity verification organ. A fingerprint scanner can be used to purchase the fingerprint image for a computer. When a person registers, after acquiring the image of the finger, an algorithm decodes the various lines and generates a unique code, which is integrated into a smart card. When a person identifies himself with a fingerprint, this code is compared against the registration code of the fingerprint found on the card. Identification in this way is considered a very fast and cheap biometric identification. The problem is that a young person's fingerprint can change over time.
The iris of the human eye is a very unique organ for each person. The iris of the eye remains constant throughout life and is not affected by various environmental or physical changes. The iris is easy to acquire for a computerized system using a normal video camera, and the advantage is that the same eye print does not change over time or due to physical changes (diet for example). It is generally advisable to combine both a fingerprint and an eye print in the smart card.
Intermediate: What is in Israel?
A week ago, the tender was closed to the certifying body according to the digital signature law. As far as is known, the tender was approached by two companies: Comada and Skyrent, the two main competitors in the field. But even if this tender ends on time, and probably without the High Court, it may be delayed if the problems in another tender are not resolved: digital identity cards, which HP won.
As a reminder, in Israel a tender was recently held for the issuance of smart identity cards to all residents of the country. Beyond the matter of protection against fraud, the government's motivation to go for such a project was a clear security one: the large scale of forgeries of Israeli identity cards that were used for terrorist purposes.
The tender talks, among other things, about the possibility that in the future it will also be possible to examine the use of biometric elements in the identity card. The winners of the tender are supposed to create such an infrastructure if and when we reach it in the future.
In the meantime, the tender results are stuck in court, following an appeal filed by EDS against HP's win. In the Treasury's Accountant General's Division, there is great anger over the petition. The claim is that the move will cause significant delays in the tender, and postpone its implementation for many more years. A senior official, who is aware of the details of the petition, estimated in my ears last week that, unlike previous petitions, the chance that this petition will end in a compromise is slim. Unofficial estimates say that the affair is getting complicated, and there are legal officials who are willing to estimate, not to mention of course, that the court may disqualify the tender and order a new tender. The petitioners, EDS as you remember, claimed that they lost the tender even though they allegedly presented lower prices than HP.
In the meantime, it was decided in the Accountant General's Division not to wait for the results of the trial, and it was learned that soon they intend to carry out a "bypass exercise at the High Court" and implement a plan that will expand the Tamaz project, digital identity cards for state employees that has already started, and give it to the business sector.
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