Fujitsu And IBM Unveil New Palm Vein Biometric Technology

Fujitsu Frontech Ltd and IBM Corporation have together come out with a solution that promises to take security-based access to computer information to the next level.

The new security technology uses palm vein identification. It has been found that people have uniquely different vein pattern in their palms just as they have uniquely different irises in the eyes. At the time of registering with the system, an individual’s palm vein pattern too is recorded. The next time this individual wishes to log into the system, all they have to do is place their palm over the appropriate device that uses near-infrared light to capture their palm vein pattern. This captured data is then matched against the registered pattern and if found matching, access is provided.

Fujitsu has provided its PalmSecure LOGONDIRECTOR system, which is a piece of hardware. IBM has coupled this system with its Tivoli Access Manager, and offered organizations an alternative to the existing mechanism of user-id/passwords. The combined package complies with regulations such as HIPAA, Sarbanes Oxley, PCI DDS and the like.

Read more about the latest in security technology unveiled by IT biggies IBM and Fujitsu, here.

Cisco To Jointly Develop HD IP Video Security Cameras With Pelco

San Jose, California-headquartered Cisco Systems Inc has entered into a strategic tie-up with Clovis, California-headquartered Pelco Inc, a Schneider Electric Company. The tie-up is for development of a product in the domain of video security cameras.

Pelco is a leader in the design, development and manufacture of video and security systems. Cisco is a leader in IP networking technology. Together, the two aim to bring out the next generation of high-definition Internet Protocol (HD-IP) equipment aimed at the high-tech surveillance market. Pelco will supply Cisco with a complete line of HD imaging technologies that will be deployed by the latter to extend its existing camera line and network-centric video surveillance systems.

The video security camera shall be co-branded. The product will feature full-frame-rate video, H.264 compression, advanced low-light performance, embedded analytics, auto-focus and easy installation which are elements of Pelco’s Sarix technology. Cisco’s own IP networking features will be incorporated in this technology.

With security and surveillance becoming the need of the hour for both governments and private corporations, the market is likely to see more such collaborations in the near future.

Read more about the strategic technological tie-up between two IT biggies to complement strengths for a new product, here.

Flash Access 2.0 Released By Adobe

San Jose, California-headquartered Adobe Systems Inc has announced the release of the next version of its software, Flash Media Management Rights Server.

The software in its new avatar is now known as “Flash Access 2.0″. The product will be available sometime in 2010.

Flash Access 2.0 is a component of Adobe’s Flash platform. The product enables the distribution and monetization of premium content, and therefore is attractive to media publishers. Content protected with Access 2.0 will run securely on Adobe Flash Player software whose new version too is being announced shortly. Flash Player is a browser plug-in that runs on a majority of internet-hooked machines around the world. The protection feature is available across a spectrum of business models, such as electronic sell-through, rental and video-on-demand. Content can be securely bound to an individual device or to a domain. Additional safeguards against unauthorized recording will ensure that copyrights are not violated.

Flash Access 2.0 provides support to MPEG 4 (H.264) as well as FLV file formats. The product is available as an SDK, which means that developers can integrate it with existing software and deploy across the internet.

Read more about the latest version of one of its software products being released by Adobe, here.

Motorola Delivers One Millionth TETRA Terminal

Schaumburg, Illinois-headquartered Motorola Inc reached the milestone of delivering one million TETRA terminals recently, when the Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) picked up a terminal for internal deployment. Considering that the 200,000th terminal was delivered to the Surrey Police as late as in November 2003, this milestone has come at a very rapid clip.

The company has received an order from the JAF for supply of TETRA portable devices such as MTH800 terminals, MTM800 Enhanced mobiles and CM5000 TETRA Gateway repeaters. These devices are to be used for security coverage across the length and breadth of the country. The CM5000 DMO Gateway / Repeater is used for radio communications where coverage is compromised such as inside buildings, underground locations, etc. The MTM800 control head is a rugged mobile that is resistant to dust and water and handy for policemen on motorcycles. The MTH800 is a GPS receiver that helps personnel in pinpointing and coordinating locations.

Motorola’s TETRA radios were very much visible during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, where over 60,000 of these devices were put in force by the organizers to maintain communication between the ground-personnel. The company’s security-centric communications products are now in use in over 85 countries.

Read more about the latest milestone achieved by Motorola, here.

Reward On Conficker Perpetrator Head Announced

A reward on the head of the perpetrator who unleashed the Conficker worm (also known as Downadup) has been announced. Anybody residing in any country who provides information that results in the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the development and launch of the malicious code on the internet, will be rewarded USD 250,000. This cash has been put forth by Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft Corporation.

The first version of Conficker, Conficker.A, was identified on November 21, 2008. This worm propagates itself by exploiting a vulnerability in the Server service of Windows XP, 2000 and Server 2003, wherein the OS would allow remote code to be executed (without any authentication whatsoever) if it received an RPC request that was composed in a particular way. A second variant, Conficker.B, was identified on December 29, 2008, which would copy itself to the ADMIN$\System32 folder on the target machine, and schedule a task to execute this file every day.

Microsoft incorporated the feature to detect and remove both these versions of Conficker in its MSRT (Malicious Software Removal Tool) software that it keeps pushing to customers who have registered for regular online updates from the Microsoft site.

The seriousness with which software vendors are viewing such attacks may be gauged from the fact that, this time, a clutch of vendors and organizations have joined hands to block the spread of Conficker. These include – ICANN, NeuStar, VeriSign, CNNIC, Afilias, Public Internet Registry, Global Domains International Inc, M1D Global, AOL, Symantec, F-Secure, ISC, Arbor Networks, Support Intelligence, the Shadowserver Foundation, and a community of researchers from Georgia Tech.

Read more about the reward being placed on the Conficker perpetrator, here.

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