Identity is no longer a matter of what you know, but who you are

Identity is no longer a matter of what you know, but who you are

[url=http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/07/22/231588/identity-is-no-longer-a-matter-of-what-you-know-but-who-you.htm]www.computerweekly.com[/ url]

Protecting your personal information with "what you know" is no longer good enough as it is now easy to find information like a birth date, address or mother's maiden on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

Additional measures of combining "what you know" (eg Pin numbers) with "what you have" (eg smartcards or tokens) do provide another level of protection for consumers against identity fraud. For example, since 2006 and the introduction of chip-and-Pin card technology in the UK, bank card fraud losses have fallen by nearly £80 million, according to the APACS UK Payments Authority.

But in some instances, where even greater assurance of identity is required, organisations are seeking even better protection via another layer, "what you are". Biometrics is the use of technology to prove identity using biological identifiers, such as fingerprint, iris and vein patterns that are unique to individuals.

(visit the link for the full news article)

And so it begins... It should be interesting to watch the next year or so to see if this is the start of a trend to condition people into accepting biometrics and RFID as being used to "enhance people's privacy, convenience and choice" rather than as yet another invasion of privacy by Big Brother. Hell, it even opens the door for the coming government push towards integrating these invasive measures further into our everyday lives.

[url=http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/07/22/231588/identity-is-no-longer-a-matter-of-what-you-know-but-who-you.htm]www.computerweekly.com[/ url]
(visit the link for the full news article)

Yup, reading the thread this morning on controlling the net like a cable subscription , dove tails with this. Equates to more ignorance for us and more profiling and control for them. It's time we start doing something about this.