Targus Fingerprint reader reviewed

[Andy Sjostrom]

<a href="http://www.maximumpda.com/reviews/DEFCONAuthenticatorPCCar.html">http://www.maximumpda.com/reviews/DEFCONAuthenticatorPCCar.html</a><br /><br />More cool hardware today! MaximumPDA.com has <a href="http://www.maximumpda.com/reviews/DEFCONAuthenticatorPCCar.html">reviewed</a> the <a href="http://www.targus.com/product_details.asp?sku=PA470U">Targus DEFCON Authenticator PC Card Fingerprint Reader</a>. While the review was done using a laptop PC, Targus "has informed us that they are developing a set of Pocket PC drivers for the Authenticator, which should be available in the fourth quarter of 2002. So if you have a PC Card capable Pocket PC, such as an iPAQ with a PC Card Sleeve, you will be able to enjoy the features of fingerprint password security on your Pocket PC."<br /><br />Where would this fit? In medical, legal, or perhaps R&amp;D administration scenarios?<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/defcon_01.jpg" />

[blade_of_narsil]

I guess I could think of some uses for this device, especially in hospitals, but wasn't it about a month ago some one posted a link to how figerprint scanners could be fooled 80% of the time with a gummy bear? I'd like to see a retinal scanner on the PPC and then I'd trust it in those types of secure applications.

[draklava]

plus once someone has physical access to your computer you can't do too much about it unless you've encrypted all your data - it's not too difficult to remove a drive and read it somewhere else bypassing all OS security as well as fingerprinting etc

[Kre]

I guess I could think of some uses for this device, especially in hospitals, but wasn't it about a month ago some one posted a link to how figerprint scanners could be fooled 80% of the time with a gummy bear? I'd like to see a retinal scanner on the PPC and then I'd trust it in those types of secure applications.

I remember that, and thinking how crazy that was. But its not exactly an easy process. Not ridiculously difficult either, but the average person is not going to defeat this fingerprint reader. When everybody around you is carrying around gummy bears in their pockets, then maybe you might have something to be concerned about, lol...

[Kre]

plus once someone has physical access to your computer you can't do too much about it unless you've encrypted all your data - it's not too difficult to remove a drive and read it somewhere else bypassing all OS security as well as fingerprinting etc

Im not sure how easy it would be to bypass the fingerprint security without the fingerprint reader to grant access. Youd certainly have to have a decent amount of skill, much more than the average person to do this. But then again, if people are physically ripping off your HDDs, youve got bigger problems.

[Madoc Owain]

Besides the obvious problem with fingerprint authentication - 50 ways of fooling the scanner - time required to use plus reliability of the software being used (both in terms of crashes and failure to properly read the print) are serious drawbacks to using biometric authenticators. My mother is using a fingerprint ID system at her workplace (a hospital) and reports that it usually takes her and her co-workers at least 4 tries for it to correctly read their fingerprint - when the software doing the reading isn't crashing. Their productivity is trashed because they are spending all this time waiting for the software to come back up or re-scanning their prints, when they could have logged on the old way in a fraction of the time.

Sometimes, just because we HAVE the technology doesn't mean we should use it exclusively. &lt;rant> Take Point of Sale terminals (POS is RIGHT!)... they work great when everything's perfect but take a power hit, and in the case of Jiffy Lube they have to have a remote operator re-build their Access database. It took them over half an hour to do it, and meanwhile they couldn't take credit cards or even cash because they DID NOT KNOW HOW to do it manually. I remember when I was younger we had this thing called a CASH REGISTER. It was electronic and had a bar-code scanner on it, but if you HAD to punch in a price manually, you could do so. Occasionally we'd even have to make change using some strange thing called 'mathematics' - I hear they've stopped teaching that in schools and are using calculators for everything these days. For pete's sake people, use the grey matter once in a while! &lt;/rant>

M.O.

[Kre]

Besides the obvious problem with fingerprint authentication - 50 ways of fooling the scanner - time required to use plus reliability of the software being used (both in terms of crashes and failure to properly read the print) are serious drawbacks to using biometric authenticators. My mother is using a fingerprint ID system at her workplace (a hospital) and reports that it usually takes her and her co-workers at least 4 tries for it to correctly read their fingerprint - when the software doing the reading isn't crashing. Their productivity is trashed because they are spending all this time waiting for the software to come back up or re-scanning their prints, when they could have logged on the old way in a fraction of the time.

Sometimes, just because we HAVE the technology doesn't mean we should use it exclusively. &lt;rant> Take Point of Sale terminals (POS is RIGHT!)... they work great when everything's perfect but take a power hit, and in the case of Jiffy Lube they have to have a remote operator re-build their Access database. It took them over half an hour to do it, and meanwhile they couldn't take credit cards or even cash because they DID NOT KNOW HOW to do it manually. I remember when I was younger we had this thing called a CASH REGISTER. It was electronic and had a bar-code scanner on it, but if you HAD to punch in a price manually, you could do so. Occasionally we'd even have to make change using some strange thing called 'mathematics' - I hear they've stopped teaching that in schools and are using calculators for everything these days. For pete's sake people, use the grey matter once in a while! &lt;/rant>

M.O.

Of course, not all readers are the same. Not all of them are of the same quality. And not all users know how to use one properly. Those are always things to consider.