How often do you forget your password? If you are like normal folks in the digital age, you have multiple passwords for multiple sites which you tend to forget often. Or you have them written down on a post-it note that you misplace just as often. Well, soon you won't have to remember any passwords, you'll just have to bring your eyes to the screen and all will be well. Currently, University of Washington engineers are trying to figure out why biometric password systems (eye-tracking, fingerprints, face-recognition) aren't mainstream yet. Basically, it all boils down to user experience.
"How humans interact with biometric devices is critically important for their future success," said lead researcher Cecilia Aragon, a UW associate professor of human centered design and engineering. "This is the beginning of looking at biometric authentication as a socio-technical system, where not only does it require that it be efficient and accurate, but also something that people trust, accept and don't get frustrated with."
Speed, accuracy and appropriate error messages factor in to a good user experience, three things that are missing from current biometric systems (except in the movies of course). The team at UW, in collaboration with Oleg Komogortsev at Texas State University, has developed a system that identifies people on their eye movements. Using infrared lights and cameras, the light reflects off the eye and is picked up by the computer. Like a fingerprint, everyone moves their eyes in a unique fashion. Currently they are testing their theories using a mock ATM machine since it already has a camera installed and comes with familiarity.
"The goal of eye-tracking signatures is to enable inexpensive cameras instead of specialized eye-tracking hardware," Aragon said. "This system can be used by basically any technology that has a camera, even a low-quality webcam."
The next step for the team is to apply this eye-tracking system to other devices, such as computers and websites. The key is going to be getting users to agree with the security and patience needed to implement and use such a system. While we are certainly used to typing in passwords, time has proven that they are easily hacked. And while the movies make it look easy to hack biometrics, it is not that simple at all. Biometrics is clearly the future of digital security.
via Technology articles at Technorati http://feeds09.technorati.com/~r/tr-technology/~3/yfoo8wA3UIk/