ING demos voice biometrics for banking app

 eSSL Security

ING says it is the first bank in Europe to offer voice recognition biometric capabilities by offering voice control mode in its mobile banking app in the Netherlands.

Inge is the bank’s new voice control mode that enables hands-free banking, which provides an alternative to touch screen banking.

“Inge is a new way of making mobile banking easy for our customers,” said Max Mouwen, general manager of Internet and Mobile ING Netherlands. “The feature makes it possible, for instance, to read out loud the requested IBAN number instead of typing it, which makes handling your banking affairs easier.”

Every voice has its own specific qualities, making it suitable as a unique and secure password. Customers can enable or disable voice control through the set-up menu in the Mobile Banking App.

ING posted a video demonstrating the use of Inge.

The company will begin introducing Inge in phases in the Netherlands. Currently, there are 1.9 million ING customers using the ING Mobile Banking App in the Netherlands and logging in on an average of six times a week.

ING customers will be able to use their voice to check their bank balances or make payments in mid-September, with authorization and logging on through voice recognition to be introduced later this year.

ING is initially inviting a select group of customers to use voice recognition before its official kick-off.

The company said it will use the customer feedback to improve the new feature before it introduces voice recognition to all customers.

Source: Biometricupdate

Facebook reintroduces facial recognition feature in European Union

eSSL Security

Facebook has been quietly restoring elements of its face recognition services in Europe, two years after data privacy advocates removed it, according to a report by TechCrunch.

In 2012, European data authorities condemned Facebook’s (www.facebook.com) facial recognition software, which instantly recognized and suggested the names of friends from the user’s previously posted photos.

The facial recognition technology was partly reinforced from Facebook’s acquisition of Israeli startup Face.com in 2012.

Data authorities disabled the facial recognition feature in the EU in September 2012, in response to a list of features that it called on Facebook to change in its platform, as identified by Ireland’s Data Protection Authority (DPA).

Now, European users are once again seeing the “tag suggest” option after uploading a photo, but it will only work on U.S.-based friends who have enabled the tagging option on their accounts.

Though it is unclear as to why this feature has been reintroduced, it could be that the social networking giant finally addressed the privacy issues DPA officials had with the technology in the first place.

Since Facebook’s international headquarters is based in Ireland, any rulings made in that particular market greatly influences the way the social network operates throughout the European Union.

And even though Facebook removed the facial recognition feature for all new European users, as well as deleted all tag suggest data for existing European users by October 2012, the company cleverly left a loophole to later reintroduce the technology.

“It’s worth us reiterating that once we have agreed on an approach on the best way to notify and educate users with the Data Protection Commissioner, we hope to bring back this useful tool,” a Facebook spokesperson said at the time, making it evident that the company would eventually revisit facial recognition technology as soon as it eased the concerns of regulators.

Source: Biometricupdate

Face recognition technology helps to crack UK crime

eSSLSecurity

Leicestershire Police claims to be the first force in the UK to test new ‘face recognition’ software which could transform the way criminals are tracked down.

Supplied by NEC, the NeoFace system is capable of comparing any digital image – such as CCTV or police body camera footage – with any photo held on the Leicestershire Police database.

The computer programme has been under evaluation for a couple of months and around two hundred suspects have already been put through the system, with a high success rate of identification.

The technology provides initial results in just a matter of a few seconds, the police said. The current system, although computerised, involves manually searching for possible matches, which can take up to several hours.

Chief Inspector Chris Cockerill said: “We’re very proud to be the first UK Police force to evaluate this new system. Initial results have been very promising and we’re looking forward to seeing what can be achieved throughout the six month trial.”

While the results can’t be used as evidence in court, the programme does give detectives significant help in developing new lines of enquiry.

Identity unit Manager Andy Ramsay said: “We have over ninety-thousand photos on our system and Neo-Face can compare someone’s image against our complete databases in seconds. Besides the speed it’s also impressive because it can even find family members related to the person we’re trying to identify.”

Source: Planetbiometrics

Indian biometric market heats up

New research has found that biometric systems are gaining acceptance in India with more than 350,000 iris and fingerprint units being shipped in the year to June 2014.
According to 6Wresearch, the Indian Biometrics Market (looking at single and multi-modal) registered annual shipments of more than 350,000 units with single-modal biometric devices capturing around 74% share of the entire Indian Market.
The company said that 3M Cogent led the market followed by ESSL.
Key highlights of the research found:
more than 40 vendors shipped biometric devices;
the top three players captured around 62% share of the market;
in the multi-modal segment, Time & Attendance systems captured a major share of the market.
At present, says 6Wresearch, the usage of biometric systems is restricted to only a few sectors. However, their demand is likely to increase across many more verticals, such as airlines, banking and financial services, travel and transport, government, healthcare, consumer electronics and retail over the coming quarters.
Increasing use of biometric data by the Government of India will enhance the adoption of biometric devices across the private sector, says the report.
The demand for biometric devices is also expected to accelerate with the introduction of biometric authentication systems in government pilot schemes such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). Additionally, Bank of Punjab has launched a new program to provide the auto disbursement subsidy through biometric cards, say the authors.

Source: Planetbiometrics

 

Soon, biometric system in all ministries

Soon all ministries and central departments will get biometric attendance system, which will be linked with Adhaar number of each employees. 

Sources said that the entire project across all departments will be implemented by National Informatics Centre ( NIC) and an order will be issued soon. Though at present, quite a few central offices have installed biometric attendance, the need to link it to Adhaar is being done to ensure that the employees cannot do any fraud to mark their attendance. 

“This additional provision will ensure that the genuine employee is recording attendance while coming to office and when he clocks out,”said a government source. 

Following recent surprise checks by two central ministers –Venkaiah Naidu and Prakash Javedekar – when they detected huge number of late comers, they had directed installation of biometric system so that there is proper record of when the employees reached office and when they left for the day. 

Biometric attendance system is a foolproof technology to ensure the accuracy of attendance and is useful to big organizations and government entities. What makes a biometric time clock one of the best time and attendance systems is that it has a biometric fingerprint scanner built in that is much more accurate in time keeping that a time card or time sheets because employees can’t clock in other employees.

Source: The Times of India

 

Time and Attendance device for Retail Industry:

Customer service is the key to success in retail industry. Whether you sell clothing or kitchen supplies, pleasing our clients are the ultimate goal of retails. eSSL’s Biometric system provides  retail time and attendance solution that facilitates employee production and allows staff to actively address the all customers needs.

The biggest challenge in the Retail industry is ensuring that customers are satisfied. Without satisfied customers, it’s impossible to grow your brand, drive sales, and meet your goals. One of the biggest issues faced by retailers is hiring and managing the type of large, diverse, and skilled staff necessary to ensure optimal customer service without going over budget. Advance Systems Time and Attendance device can help those in the Retail industry boost customer service through better workforce management.

 

Benefits of Retail Time and Attendance device:

Simplified Scheduling – The time and attendance system can be customized to include information about production cycles, working patterns, flexi-time, shift work and holidays. This allows retails to quickly create work schedules that match organization’s ever-changing needs.

Compliance with Workplace Legislation – Current legislation imposes strict limitations on the number of hours individuals can work, and the amount of break time they must have between shifts. An automated time and attendance system will help ensure that workers’ schedules conform to these rules. Retails can also implement and monitor fatigue management processes.

Integrates with HR and Payroll applications – The information gathered from the time and attendance system can be used to establish the number of hours worked as well as Award Interpretation for payroll purposes. This information can be exported direct to your HR or Payroll system, removing the potential for error and data double entry.

Reduce Absenteeism and improve punctuality – By reporting absenteeism on day to day basis time and attendance device provides qualitative information which will help determine an efficient company workforce. Problem areas and absence issues are easily identified, allowing you to take appropriate action before they get out of hand.

 

Why surveillance system for farms and agriculture?

eSSL Security

One may not think so but security for agricultural environments and farms is extremely important. CCTV cameras help to safeguard farms and make sure daily operations continue to run smooth. This helps farms to deliver a safe quality product to consumers, while protecting equipment, animals, and the facilities from possible harm or misuse.

Security is incredibly important for farms and other agricultural environments. Video surveillance can help ensure farm operations run smoothly, making certain that consumers receive a safe quality product in the end, while protecting animals, equipment and facilities from harm and misuse.

Benefits of Surveillance camera:

Monitor for intruders – Strategically placed farm security cameras will capture images of anyone entering the property. This coverage helps to ensure that only authorized workers gain access to the farm and its facilities.

Protect water supplies – A well-protected water supply is critical to agricultural operations. Farm security cameras can play an important role in protecting this highly-sensitive area.

Prevent break-ins – Implementing farm security cameras around your property can deter break ins. For those intruders who look past the cameras, the surveillance footage can capture them in the act.

Deter theft – Farm security cameras in areas such as holding pens, calving pens, tool shops, and gates will help to prevent thieves from stealing animals and equipment.

Monitor daily operations – Security cameras can also ensure that daily operations such as milking and feeding run smoothly.

Remote playback and monitoring – With an IP-based surveillance system, farm owners can monitor their property remotely. Footage can be stored digitally and easily searched in cases requiring visual evidence.

 

 

Why security surveillance system at parking lots ?

eSSL Security

Parking lots and parking garages are appealing for criminals because they provide a source for a wide variety of criminal activities. Parking lot security can be a difficult problem for offices, retails, apartment property owners to handle. A large percentage of problems and liabilities usually occur in the parking lots; yet, illegal activities there are hard to monitor and control. Property damage or assaults, particularly sexual assaults involving females as the victims, will have a very serious affect on tenant relations.

With the constant influx of vehicles coming in and out of parking lots, keeping tabs on each vehicle is imperative to nurturing a safe environment for everyone, especially in poorly lit parking lots that are susceptible to criminal activity. Implementing a reliable surveillance system within the confines of a parking lot greatly enhances security and safety.

An unsafe parking lot can also be a dangerous place for your customers and employees. People with bad intentions have a lot of opportunities to hide and prey on unsuspecting victims in parking lots; countless muggings, kidnappings, murders and rapes have occurred in unsafe parking lots and parking garages.

Benefits of parking lots surveillance system:

Prevent Vehicle Theft:  Many thieves see parking lots as potential gold mines, miles and miles of cars or personal property that they can rob. Visible security cameras can help deter thieves from breaking into cars on your lot, and can help aid law enforcement in identifying criminals who do rob cars on your lot. Cameras can also help prevent theft of store property ie shopping carts, outdoor displays, tables and chairs, landscaping, etc.

Increase Public Safety: Customers are undoubtedly the most essential aspect of businesses. Keeping your customers happy and giving them a sense of safety and peace of mind when they’re shopping at your business establishes a sense of trust and loyalty.

Reduce Liability:  It’s inevitable that an accident will happen in your parking lot. Whether it’s a car crash, factors that dent may happen or a slip video surveillance is an easy way to avoid costly liability claims, and even suits.

Identify Unpaid/Prohibited Vehicles:  Similar to a “dine-and-dash” in restaurants, drivers can attempt to leave the parking lot without paying. While most parking lots are monitored by attendants, it’s virtually impossible to ensure that every area of the lot is fully covered by staff. Surveillance cameras have the power to capture license plate numbers, allowing you to decide if you want to press charges or prohibit that customer from utilizing your parking lot in the future.

Surveillance system solution for road traffics:

eSSLSecurity

Surveillance solution uses sophisticated devices and technologies to build a stable and reliable video surveillance system and ensure the safe and standard operation of traffics. This solution provides interfaces for connecting to standard devices and other systems.

Traffic cameras are an innovative and extremely functional use of video surveillance technology. You’ve seen their footage during traffic reports on the TV news. They’re atop traffic signals and placed along busy roads, and at busy intersections of the highway. Whether they’re recording traffic patterns for future study and observation or monitoring traffic and issuing tickets for moving violations, traffic cameras are an explosively popular form of video surveillance.

Traffic surveillance includes the urban surveillance system, high-definition checkpoint surveillance system, bus and taxi surveillance system, and high-definition e-Police system. With these surveillance systems, the Solution provides real-time traffic monitoring and releases traffic information to notify drivers of road conditions. To meet the requirements of different transportation means, Intelligent Traffic Surveillance Solution provides the urban road transportation solution, highway transportation solution, and railway transportation solution, which helps optimize an existing transportation infrastructure, alleviates traffic bottlenecks, and maximizes traffic efficiency.

Advantage of traffic surveillance camera:

Aid commuters – Traffic cameras placed at common congestion points on highways, freeways, interstates and major arteries often share feeds with news outlets – both radio and TV, which in turn pass them onto commuters in the form of traffic reports. Normally, traffic flows do not vary much from day to day, but in the event of a severe accident or road closure, a traffic alert can be extremely valuable for a time-crunched commuter.

Valuable data – Traffic cameras that simply monitor car flows on roads and major arteries are often maintained by state departments of transportation. Along with monitoring the roads for accidents or major closures, footage from traffic cameras is influential in decisions regarding future road development and construction.

Enforce laws – Cameras used to enforce speed and red light laws are effective in catching moving violations and issuing tickets.

Encourage safe driving – Visible surveillance cameras posted at intersections can encourage safe driving habits and discourage moving violations.

 

 

Elevator Controller for more security at home or office buildings

eSSL Security

 

With residential, commercial and office buildings growing taller day-by-day; Elevators have become the most basic and convenient way to travel and access the floors in such a multi-storey building. To keep these elevators active and perfectly running continuously all the time we need a very efficient Elevator Control System. An Elevator Controller is the system responsible for coordinating all aspects of elevator service such as travel speed, accelerating and decelerating, door opening speed and delay, leveling and hall lantern signals as well as securing the building by denying unauthorized access.

 

Why Elevator Controller?

 

The main aims of the Elevator Controller are: 

• To bring the lift car to the correct floor.
• To minimize travel time.
• To maximize passenger comfort by providing a smooth ride.
• To accelerate, decelerate and travel within safe speed limits.
• Most importantly, to deny unauthorized access.

Except for the last among the above mentioned, all others are general and basic functions of an Elevator Controller. This special function is required in office buildings which observe large traffic. Apart from regular members of staff who are present on a daily basis, depending upon the nature of its business, an office is likely to receive visitors, temporary staff, field staff, etc. Although they are not there on a regular basis they can potentially blend in with office workers. It is important to keep track of who is in the office building and to ensure that unauthorized people are not able to gain access to valuables and sensitive information.

 

How does an Elevator Controller avoid Unauthorized Access?

 

An Elevator Control System can be integrate with other security systems like Boom barriers, Turnstiles, IP Cameras, Fingerprint and Card Readers, Alarms etc., which gives us a complete secured system. Consider a multi-floor office building including basement. In such a big building the Elevator Controlling Button Panel can be integrated with Fingerprint or Card reader so that the elevator operates only if an authorized Fingerprint or RFID is punched or flashed.

Maximum chances are that an intruder can try getting in from the basement. A boom barrier or a turnstile fitted with an alarm system can be set up just before the entry of the elevator. Even IP Cameras can be installed at the entry of the elevator in every floor. Special RFID/HID cards can be assigned only to those employees who have the authority to access a particular restricted floor (say R & D Department). Once the card is flashed before the reader the particular floor button becomes active and he/she can have access to that particular floor.

 

There are always chances of an unauthorized person getting hold of the RFID Card somehow from somewhere or maybe he/she can befriend an employee of the office and get him/her to punch in his/her finger over the reader. By doing this the intruder can access any floor in the office at ease. To avoid such a breach a turnstile can be installed in every floor at the exit of the elevator. As soon as the turnstile gets a mismatch of the number of cards flashed and number of individuals getting out of the elevator it can activate the alarms.