The rise in mobile phone-related crime has created a need for improved security technologies.
The vast majority of mobile phones are conspicuously lacking in any form of protection, and anybody who picks one up can make use of it – PIN protection may be the most sophisticated defence available, and many users do not bother to implement it in any case. If we expect mobiles to defend themselves in a more active manner, then more sophisticated systems will have to be devised, and the obvious market for these will initially be pitched at a corporate, not consumer, level.
One such example is the face recognition software currently being promoted by Oki Electric Industry. The company’s Face Sensing Engine software makes use of the imaging capabilities of the phone, so the device can literally attempt to recognise its lawful owner, whose likeness is stored in memory, and bars access to all unrecognised users.
Oki says its software is both simpler and faster than password authentication and flexible enough to allow for changes in expression, such as smiling or frowning. The company hopes take-up will be high in the near future, and is projecting licences running into the thousands.
This is a good example of a technology that addresses a serious and growing need for businesses to provide simple-to-use controls of resources that are entrusted to employees, although only time will tell how successful Oki Electric, and other companies entering this space, will be.
Facial recognition software is attracting a lot of interest at this time, but not all of it is positive. For example, UK citizens are facing the very real risk that government initiatives depending upon the effectiveness of facial recognition in connection with proving identity will fall flat on their faces (so to speak). The performance of corporate solutions in the marketplace will almost certainly be impacted by the public sector offerings, so it is vitally important for the interested parties to work together to get the systems working as promised – but traditionally this is not something that the vendor community has managed consistently.
Source: OpinionWire by Butler Group (www.butlergroup.com)
