There’s an increasingly common way to avoid remembering all of the passwords required for computers, office networks and websites. And it all lies in a fingertip.
Fingerprint readers are becoming standard devices embedded on the keyboards of notebook computers.
With the growth of notebook or laptop sales outpacing that of desktop PCs year after year, more everyday home users are finding fingerprint scanners on notebooks sold at the retail level.
According to iSuppli, a market intelligence firm, U.S. shipments of notebook computers in the third quarter grew 33.5 percent over the same quarter a year ago. Worldwide, more than 102.5 million notebooks are expected to be shipped this year.
With the swipe of a finger, users can log on to their computers and even forgo user names and passwords to their favorite websites.
“It’s is another level of security. If someone steals my laptop, they’re not going to be able to use it,” said Chip Mesec, senior product marketing manager for DigitalPersona, a Redwood City, Calif.- based maker of fingerprint reader software. “It’s convenient because I always have my fingerprint with me. You can have documents stored and encrypted. It’s very easy to secure with a fingerprint swipe.”
He said the fingerprint readers, on high-end business notebooks and as separate extensions attached to desktops, gained traction in the corporate world several years ago. Information technology departments needed a way for employees to remember several network passwords.
“One of the biggest jobs for IT departments was doing resets on passwords,” Mesec said. “It was really the convenience and time-saving for the IT department. That’s really how the business got started.”
Fingerprint readers are often found near the touchpad mouse or located off to the side of the notebook. It’s essentially a scanner camera that captures and verifies unique points along a user’s fingerprint with an image stored within the system. That information is often encrypted depending on the hardware and accompanying software.
“We don’t record the actual fingerprint,” said Charles Fox, a Denver- based technical specialist for Microsoft. “It picks points of intersection and builds a little map. The mirror image is not on the machine.”
Those “minutiae points” are enough to identify a person and let he or she log in to a machine. The reader can also be used to store and retrieve passwords on website and lock document folders.
Full fingerprint scans, such as the ones used by law enforcement, are not used on notebooks because the files would be too large to store on a PC.
A certain number of points along the scan of the swiped finger must match the tiny file on the PC in order to authenticate a user. The number of points along a print the reader must recognize in order to verify a finger swipe may also differ depending on the software or user settings, explained Mesec.
In the case of storing website passwords, a finger swipe will often input a user’s name and password at a specific site, such as . Users must store these passwords in advance and can associate the fingerprint swipe with the password list.
That said, all traditional forms of securing a PC still hold. Fingerprint scanners are not a replacement for antivirus, anti-spyware, firewalls and other security software, experts say.
“Biometrics are simply one piece of a security solution,” said Terrance Boult, chief executive of Securics Inc. a Colorado Springs-based company focused on privacy, security and enhancing biometric technology. “You have to be careful that biometrics don’t weaken security.”
Some fingerprint scanners can be fooled and a computer can be compromised, Boult said. “I see (fingerprint readers) as an opportunity (for improved security) if used properly,” he said. “The other thing is that your laptop is covered in fingerprints. I could lift prints and get into your computer. You just have to have a match good enough for the laptop.”
Kimberly S. Johnson: 303-954-1088 or kjohnson@denverpost.com
