by Rebecca Engmann*

"You are about to enter a world where passwords, PINs and keys no longer rule. Your fingerprint is the ultimate proof that you really are you, every time it counts..."

The eerie prediction comes straight from Lund-based ID-tech development company Precise Biometrics' website. It may sound menacing - tomorrow's privacy invasion leading to the ID-less society. But fingerprint identification is right around the corner, and Precise Biometrics provides some compelling arguments as to why we need this technology now.

The company's Biometric Fingerprint Authentication Technology provides three-dimensional readings of the human fingerprint that captures the pattern of the finger, its ridges and valleys, and extracts the unique information. This technology provides more information than traditional fingerprint recognition systems.

"Obviously, we all have different fingerprints, but revealing these subtle differences depends on resolution. The right technology has been here for 30 years. But we're taking technology from the police/FBI sphere and bringing it to the civilian sector, for use in logons, and computer identification," says company’s co-founder and Executive Vice President Mårten Öbrink.

"The technology is based, first of all, on acquiring an image of a fingerprint through a sensor - using either an ordinary camera, or a silicon sensor, which reads a fingerprint's image. The image is then fed through an algorithm, which finds areas unique to the print, and stored on a hard drive or a smart card, either a credit card, an ID card, or a driver's licence to identify the holder instead of a PIN code," Öbrink explains.

Not only is this technology accurate and comprehensive - but it's also fast. Biometric Fingerprint Authentication Technology provides real-time ID, providing authentic, reliable readings at a speed that businesses and security agencies can depend on.

According to Öbrink, when the company first began in 1997, there were 10 biometrics technology companies - today there are 150, so competition is fierce. But Precise Biometrics is keeping up with their competitors by branching out into several markets simultaneously, from providing technology for ID cards and security for financial institutions, to the travel industry, with the issuance of electronic passports or tracking frequent fliers.

New avenues for biometric ID

Öbrink says that security concerns raised in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks brought heightened attention to the safety potential in biometric technology.

"Throughout the year after 9/11, there was actually a slowdown in business, because people sat down and thought, 'How can we benefit from this technology?' Immediately afterward, the major orders began to pour in, and we have now several US governmental agencies as customers, such as the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Defence," Öbrink explains.

The company already commands a strong position on the US market thanks to a subsidiary based in Washington D.C., and its trans-Atlantic ties have proven especially effective. Precise Biometrics CEO Christer Bergman testified last September before the US House of Representatives' Congressional Oversight Committee on recent advances in smart-card technology.

Fast-forward oned decade

"In 10 years, you won't use a PIN-code when you withdraw money from an ATM," Öbrink says. "When you travel, you'll scan your passport and provide a fingerprint instead. The technology may be used in the workforce, for telecommuters who need home authentication to log on to networks. It may even be used in the field of physical access - unlocking your front door with the touch of a fingerprint."

In the future, the company plans to work with the Øresund Region's wealth of airports and seaports, including Copenhagen's own Kastrup Airport. Passengers on BornholmsTraffiken - the catamaran ferry that services Copenhagen and Ystad (Sweden) with the Baltic port of Rønne - are already benefiting from Precise Biometrics technology at passenger check-in gates.

This article was originally published by Øresund IT Magasine (nr. 4 - 2004). You can download the magazine in PDF format on Publications.

*Rebecca Engmann is an American journalist living in Copenhagen.