Biometric identification solutions, such as fingerprint or iris scanning, have been used successfully in airport security checkpoints, as well as private companies, as a way to prevent identity theft and fraud.
However, new technologies involving devices that help distinguish individuals based on their brain waves or body scent will soon be on the market.
Body scent, for example, can be used for purposes of authentication. Sensors are currently being developed that work in a similar way to that of a dog’s nose to identify chemical patterns in a person’s scent.
The use of scent alongside iris scanning or fingerprints will increase the recognition rates and decrease the possibility of fraud at control checkpoints. Preliminary studies have revealed that the recognition rate using a person’s body scent is 85 percent, which places it in a good position against other systems currently in use. This technology is presently in an experimental phase.
Another technology under expansion involves the use of electrical brain waves. Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, have been working on an identification system that uses a headset that can read electrical brain waves.
It has been suggested that this new technology could be particularly useful for computer access. The team of investigators developed a prototype consisting of a wireless headset equipped with biosensors that can read electroencephalographic data.
They performed a test in which a group of participants carry out several mental tasks while wearing the headset, such as focusing on breathing or imagining moving a finger. In some cases, the tasks were similar; in others, the tasks varied within the group.
The results of the test yielded evidence that the brain wave data generated by the participants’ thoughts was enough to confirm a person’s identity.
The brain activity was monitored through a clip in the ear and an electroencephalographic sensor on the forehead. The brain wave signals that were collected were able to identify participants with a high degree of precision.