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Protect Your PC With Face Recognition

The latest security device for your PC is face-recognition software. Give a pretty smile.

By Brian McWilliams, PCWorld   

According to Bill Malik of the Gartner Group research firm, PC security devices generally rely on three types of information--what you know, what you have, or who you are.

%dquotPasswords are passi, right? Because either they%squotre easy to remember, which means they%squotre easy to guess, or they%squotre hard to remember, which means you write them down,%dquot says Malik.

Alternate solutions have included a token, a SmartCard, a password generator, a secure ID card, or other object. Systems in the third category include those designed to recognize your thumbprint, voice, the pattern of blood vessels on the back of your eye, and, most recently, your face.

%dquotSo you go up to a teller machine and what do you do?%dquot asks Malik %dquotYou put in a card--that%squots something you have--and you type in a PIN--that%squots something you know. Wouldn%squott it make more sense just to have the teller take a look at your face and say, %squotOh, it%squots Bill. How much money do you want, Bill?%squot%dquot

Inexpensive, yet sophisticated, PC-based face-recognition products are now available from several vendors. This week, Miros Software announced a Windows 95 product called TrueFace CyberWatch Logon95.

As a user logs on, the software uses biometric technology to compare a previously stored facial image to a real-time video of the user. Within seconds, Logon95 allows or denies access to the PC.

The software costs $60 if you download it from the Web, and it requires that you have a video camera connected to your PC.

Miros Software President Michael Kuperstein says Logon95 does a complete interpretation of facial features and isn%squott thrown off by poor lighting or darkened skin colors. It can even accommodate for changes in hair style, glasses, facial expression, and so on. Kuperstein says Logon95 could be used over an intranet to recognize users and deliver customized settings and programs.

Besides controlling access to a PC, Kuperstein says the software can give the computer a more human interface.

%dquotWe believe that, in terms of the next generation of interfaces, the machine has to be designed to be more warm and fuzzy toward a human,%dquot says Kuperstein, %dquotand this is one major step in the direction of making the interface more humanlike.%dquot

Another firm developing face-recognition software for PCs is Visionics Corporation, which is about to release version 3 of its FaceIt software. Visionics says FaceIt has been chosen by several federal agencies, including the Immigration and Naturalization Services and the National Security Agency.

You can download a free, 30-day trial version of FaceIt 2.5 from the company%squots site. Miros Software says it will post a trial version of Logon95 at its site by the end of the week.