Hardware Autopsy
terfeiting. Take iris scanning, for example:
With this technique, a near-infrared camera
illuminates and photographs the eye’s iris.
A person’s iris remains comparatively stable
from childhood to death, and the chances of
two irises being identical are infi nitesimally
small—one in 10^78 —so this method would
appear fail-safe.
The reality, however, is that many of
today’s inexpensive iris scanners can be
thrown off by minutiae such as tears, contact
lenses, and even certain eye colors. More
costly commercial iris scanners also remain
open to attack: A study published by Japan’s
Yokohama National University in 2004 revealed
that two commercial iris-recognition devices
could be tricked 100 percent of the time, and
a third was fooled 50 percent of the time. The
weapons used for these deceptions included
everything from glass eyes to videotaped irises
and high-resolution photographs.GEORGE JETSON OR
GEORGE ORWELL?
One approach researchers are taking to foil
these spoofs is known as “liveness detection.”
Future biometrics devices will be able to distin-
guish a living eye, fi nger, or face from an inani-
mate imitation. A fi ngerprint scanner, for exam-
ple, might incorporate technology for detecting
and measuring perspiration, collagen, and even
hemoglobin levels. Iris scanners, meanwhile,
might combat photo spoofs by detecting dot
matrices or dyes used in printing.
Other objections to biometrics will be more
diffi cult to overcome. Can privacy be guaran-
teed in a world where not only your image, but
everything from your fi ngerprints to your blood
type might be captured and stored in some
central database—just so you can gain access
to the offi ce building in which you work?
The people of Jamaica might be ahead
of the rest of the world in struggling with this
very issue: That country’s government has
proposed creating a biometrics-based national
registration system. Citizens would be required
to submit their personal information and fi n-
gerprints to a national database accessible by
every governmental agency, from the police, to
the tax collector’s offi ce, to the national health-
insurance department. The nongovernmental
organization Jamaica Council for Human
Rights has fi ercely objected to the move, citing
its Big Brother implications.
Biometrics was a nascent market even
before 9/11, and the tragic events of that day
have only expedited its development. Even if
industry succeeds in developing absolutely
foolproof biometrics security systems, the key
question is this: Just how much of our privacy
are we willing to part with in the pursuit of per-
sonal and national security?r & d BREAKING DOWN TECH —PRESENT AND FUTURE
54 MA XIMUMPC MARCH 2006 MARCH 2006 MA XIMUMPC 55
White Paper: Biometric Security
SHELL You’ll spend many hours manipulating a mouse,
so it’s crucial that the shape of its outer shell fit comfortably
in your hand. Button placement is equally important. The
design of this laser mouse is ambidextrous, in order to be
comfortable for both right- and left-handed users.BUTTONS There’s not a lot of mystery behind
a mouse’s buttons, but the best ones strike the
perfect balance between having a short throw
(for rapid response) and sufficient resistance (so
they’re not triggered by the simple weight of your
fingers). The rubber-coated buttons on this mouse
are also programmable.LIGHTING STRIP Interior tubing
channels LED light from its source to the
non-slip side rails of the mouse. Lighting
effects don’t serve any function other than
to add a “cool factor” to the product.CMOS SENSOR This device captures
the laser light bounced off the surface and
sends it to a digital signal processor ( DSP).
The DSP examines the patterns in each
image and compares them with the previous
image captured, in order to determine how
far the mouse has moved in the interval. The
corresponding coordinates are then relayed to
the host PC, which moves the cursor across
the screen.LASER Lasers have displaced LEDs in
high-performance mice. Both technologies
bounce light off the surface and onto a
CMOS sensor, but lasers detect more
surface details, even on black or reflective
surfaces. The higher the laser’s resolution,
the more precisely the mouse will pick up
the mouse’s motion. This one delivers a
max resolution of 2,000dpi.Laser Mouse
The very first computer mouse was fabricated from a block of wood, and the typical mouse
remains about as responsive and accurate. Laser mice changed everything, so we gutted
this one to see what makes it tick