There’s a lot of reasons why we’re all unique. Our DNA, the patterns in our eyes, our fingerprints – all these and more make up a sort of personal set of biological credentials that we all carry with us wherever we go. Another one of these unique features is our heartbeat. Our cardiac rhythm, as it’s called, is unmistakable, and most importantly, impossible to replicate.
Halifax, a bank here in the UK, are soon to take advantage of the uniqueness of our heartbeats in a new wearable band which lets users verify their identity to access their bank account. The Nymi band, created by a company called Bionym from Canada, uses the unique ‘cardiac signature’ we all posses to allegedly provide security on your account which according to Bionym is even more reliable than iris scanning or facial recognition.
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Placing a finger on a sensitive point on the Nymi band creates a circuit, which then measures your cardiac rhythm. It’s impossible for someone else to impersonate, unless they somehow manage to steal your heart, and of course means it’ll be a lot easier to get into your account.
The Nymi band has been carried out by Halifax in conjunction with their mobile app – meaning that the heartbeat unlocking feature will be used as a verification methods for accessing payment through mobile phones. But the applications of such technology are numerous.
As with other systems for verifying identity, other functions are also applicable, such as unlocking doors, accessing vehicles as well as controlling other devices such as televisions and computers. Of course, the app and band are far from going all the way to mainstream adoption.
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A slew of new biometric systems are already on the way, which may compete with the Nymi band – Samsung and Qualcomm are both in the process of manufacturing buttons for phones that read fingerprints, similar to Apple’s Touch ID. These don’t require a band to work, but then again Nymi’s solution is much more personal, innovative and secure.
Other banks are also trialing similar systems, although they don’t match the level of technology and the heartbeat security used on Nymi’s band through Halifax. Mobile apps and fingerprint sensors built into cards are being tried out, and pretty soon most banks will be able to offer their for biometric security features for customers.
Via: The Telegraph
Via: T3