Futronic Launches FS25 USB2.0 Fingerprint Mifare Card Reader/Writer

• Author: USBWorld
• Filed under: USB News, USB gadgets
• Date: Dec 20,2008

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Futronic Technology Company Limited, a global provider of fingerprint recognition software and hardware products, announces the commercial release of FS25, a USB Fingerprint Mifare Card Reader and Writer. Together with its previously launched FS82 USB Fingerprint ISO7816 Smart Card Reader and Writer, Futronic is now supporting both contact and contact-less smart card together with Fingerprint authentication.

FS25 combines fingerprint “Match on Device” and ISO14443A Mifare card Reader and Writer into one compact device. It supports both 1KB and 4KB Mifare card and is perfect for real two-factors authentication, what you own(finger) is matched with what you carry(Mifare card), because fingerprint data can be stored to Mifare card.

At the time of authentication:
1. User shows the Mifare card and FS25 reads the fingerprint data stored in card.
2. Then put finger and FS25 scans the fingerprint image.
3. FS25 matches the scanned fingerprint with the fingerprint data read from the Mifare card.
4. The matching result is sent to PC for authentication.

This also eliminates any possible privacy issue because it is not necessary to store users’ fingerprint data anywhere in the system for authentication. Futronic provides full SDK to customers to make such two- factor authentication application.

Like other Futronic products, FS25 is with 16(W) x 24(L) mm crown glass finger scanning window which is ready for long time extensive usage. It also includes Live Finger Detection (LFD) function for spoof prevention.

Mr. YM Jiang, Futronic’s Vice President of Marketing said, “Fingerprint recognition and RFID are two most popular technologies for personal identification now. FS25 is the first USB product in market that combines both into one device. This shows our long-term commitment to provide high performance, secure but convenient personal identification solution to the market. FS25 can be used in various physical and logical access control application and we believe it brings extra value to our partners and customers worldwide.”

Source: Futronic Technology Company Limited

IronKey Announces New Capabilities to Remotely Protect its secure USB Flash Drives From Unsecure Computers

• Author: USBWorld
• Filed under: USB News, USB gadgets
• Date: Dec 19,2008

IronKey Enterprise Devices Protect Against Spreading Malware Threats and Data Leakage

IronKey Inc., maker of the world’s most secure flash drives, announced a new level of flash drive usage control that allows IT administrators to remotely restrict IronKey devices from being used on untrusted networks. This release follows the recent announcement of the IronKey Anti-Malware Initiative, a comprehensive program to protect portable and mobile media from viruses, worms, Trojans, botnets, crimeware and other malware threats.

Of recent concern has been the malware attacks witnessed within the U.S. Government that were believed to have originated from a removable memory device. NASA CIO Jonathan Pettus recently clarified his agency’s policy curbing the use of removable media, stating that the new policy dictates that employees not use government-owned removable devices on personal machines or machines that do not belong to the agency, department or organization. The policy also extends to banning the use of any unknown device on a government system. An additional feature of IronKey’s Enterprise managed devices, The Trusted Network policy, addresses these specific security concerns.

The IronKey Trusted Network policy restricts IronKey Enterprise devices from being used on systems outside specified enterprise IP addresses, preventing users from unlocking IronKey devices from home or in untrusted network environments. Government agencies can define policies to restrict IronKey devices containing classified information to only be used on computers in approved government secure networks.

Additionally, hospitals can define policies to allow doctors to carry patient information on IronKey devices for use on hospital and clinic computers. These policies can prevent doctors from using their IronKey devices from home or on other unsecure computers, thereby ensuring compliance with HIPPA data privacy regulations.

To learn more about IronKey devices and the IronKey Anti-Malware Initiative, please visit https://www.ironkey.com/anti-malware.