WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2012 -- Passfaces an Attractive Alternative in a Cyber Security System
WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Six major American banks were hit in a wave of computer attacks last week, by a group claiming Middle Eastern ties, that caused Internet blackouts and delays in online banking," The New York Times reported on Sunday, September 30, 2012.
"A hacker group calling itself Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber ... took credit for the attacks in online posts. It also pledged to continue to attack American credit and financial institutions daily..." This is only the latest assault by jihadists and other hostile forces against the communications net which sustains every part of American life.
INADEQUATE SOLUTIONS: We are all familiar with passwords. The passwords that are easy to remember are ridiculously easy to break for a skilled hacker. Complex passwords are a little harder to hack, but they are too hard to remember and are usually written down somewhere, which makes them accessible to anyone walking by.
MULTI-FACTOR SOLUTIONS: One key to protecting our many computer networks is restricting access to users who are authorized to enter those networks. An increasingly recognized method of doing this is called "multi-factor authentication," which is a system for requiring users to provide more than one security check rather than just one factor (e.g. a password). Thus we are seeing more and more passwords linked to questions like, "Where were you born?" or "Name your favorite pet." These measures have proved cumbersome and a lot of jokes have been made about them, but, unfortunately they have also been minimally effective against identity theft and criminal re-direction of funds and information. They wilt in the face of hostile attackers, especially those with all the technical resources of an entire nation supporting them. The US Government ordered multi-factor authentication for all its executive agencies in 2006. Since then, many banks, hospitals and corporations have started using this method. However, finding even a 2-factor solution which is both effective and practical has not been easy. In addition to "Name your pet," a common secondary authentication is the use of tokens. But this is extremely expensive for large populations, and also very difficult to manage. Tokens keep getting lost, lent to someone else, stolen, and walking away with ex-employees, ex-students, and ex-friends.
A BETTER SOLUTION - PASSFACES: "Passfaces is a an attractive alternative as one of the factors in multi-factor authentication," says Dr. Lawrence Fedewa, CEO of WTG New Technology Corporation, a major reseller of Passfaces. "It uses people's primal memory of human faces as a key authentication factor, making it an easy, extremely hacker-resistant, and very inexpensive option for improving cyber security. In cyber-security language, it uses "what you know", and it is very, very unlikely that anyone else can know the faces you have chosen. The system has been proven over thousands of users and a decade of experience by government, financial institutions, hospitals and others. And it works."
About WTG New Technology Corporation WTG New Technology Corporation is a technology transfer firm, specializing in introducing technologies from USA sponsored R&D and private US and international firms to government and industry. Its goal is to help the US government "do more with less" in view of the looming deficit and economic challenges facing the country in coming months and years. WTG specialties are: 1) cyber security, 2) secure access to property and equipment, including port security, and 3), biomedical technologies for hospitals medical and support personnel, and disaster relief. For additional information, see www.wtgnewtech.net, www.wtg.passfaces.com or, contact Dr. Lawrence J. Fedewa for Passfacess, l.j.fedewa@wtg.net or 703.815.9660.
SOURCE Dr. Lawrence J. Fedewa for Passfacess
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