Florida School District Draws Ire Over Student Retina Scans

reply to post by FlyersFan


Thats just..........................sick! What the hell is wrong with the government that they think its necessary to use Iris scans in schools. This is a frigging elementary school for chrisakes, not Area 51. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the admin staff at our schools are turning into the gestapo.

Originally posted by PhoenixOD
reply to post by Pinke

 

I think you are confusing iris scanning with retinal scanning.

Probably a little actually, though it doesn't help that hardware vendors screw this up as well.

As for your claims that biometrics like retinal scanning is some secret process that governments keep to themselves its no secret how it works.

I don't think you understood what I was saying at all. (And kind of sensing more than a little attitude and condscending frankly; expect a short conversation.)

The pattern of variations is converted to computer code and stored in a database

The algorithms that are involved have been obsfucated quite often the same way as forensics techniques have been hidden from the public. This is very common, though its been changing over the years as there has been a push for more transparent counter forensic studies etc ...

Your claims of hacking and 0day exploits are pretty much redundant in a closed system ie something that is not hooked up to the internet.

There are multiple journal articles from the last five years alone that discuss issues of these systems being vulnerable to basic techniques and how to secure them. (Algorithms are a large part of that)

I am not referring to anything related to the internet, though a school would often at least have a database going through the on-campus intranet, and education departments aren't so well know for their network security.

Either way the machine that does the authentication is only part of a computer system and is not really effected by hacking.

A broadcast attack isn't a 'hack' as you seem to think.

It can be, such as digitally altering a video feed. but it certainly doesn't need to be. It can be something as simple as replacing the live image (camera) with a rebroadcast one (recording or photography), and can also include physical interference with the device itself.

I do find that image forensics and more traditional digital forensics sometimes use some of the same language but in slightly different contexts which may be leading to some confusion which may be occurring here.

At the end of the day its super difficult to beat biometrics

We will have to agree to disagree frankly.

I've seen facial and eye recognition systems exploited multiple times and with audiences; you have to have a certain level of confidence to do that.

You can certainly do it with laptops and several phones quite easily still. You might state these pieces of hardware are 'cheap', however they are still a 'biometric' leading me to believe your statement isn't 100% accurate. Not to mention all the different types of 'biometrics' there are.

We can enter into the debate about $10, 000 'government' systems vs $2000 cheap Toshiba laptops, all kinds of details about what you consider biometric and not, what you consider professional and not etc etc etc ... but to be honest I kind of get the impression it would be more about trying to prove me as wrong possible rather than learning, education, or understanding. It's a discourse I have no interest in.

even more difficult on a closed system and a very practical security method for something like schools.

I actually think it's dangerous, personally. I wouldn't want anyone using my child as a human barcode scanner.

I hope this clears my position a little more. Have a good day.

reply to post by Pinke


Iris scanners can be fooled with a picture on a computer screen or an iphone but you can fool retinal scanners that way as they don't work off an image collected with a simple camera. they use infra red light to read the veins at the back of the eye.

Of course if a world class hacker could gain access to the closed computer system they might be able to spoof it. But to what end? Someone with a lot of computer skill and physical access to the system is going to do what exactly?

Door locks can be picked by anyone with a few simple bits of metal yet they are still used every day. Almost any security measure can be spoofed some way or another but that doesn't mean we shouldn't use any of them and let the children be at risk.

Security is never about a single system these days, you bolt together physical security (fences , locked doors, guards) along with digital security which may include biometrics to create an overall safer system that's more difficult to beat. Sure ANY one of these can be beat on its own but when they are all stacked together it becomes a serious challenge.

Retinal scanners are one of the most difficult biometric systems to fool , so at the end of the day a school with a retinal scanner as added security to what is already there would be far safer for the children. Beefing up security in schools can not do any harm especially in a country where so many people have guns and so many school massacres seem to happen.