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Notice: GeekPress is back up and running, thanks to Paul! It's still a not-so-serious tech news blog, but the format is significantly looser. Diana, having given up programming for philosophy, has her own philosophical blog NoodleFood. More of her work can be found at DianaHsieh.com.

 

Digital signature with Smartpen

2:38:44 am mst / 5 January 2001 found by paul / filed in inventions / source Forbes 22 hits / 1 comment / 0 e-mails

A Dutch company has devised a new method to implement digital signatures with a device called the Smartpen. As one signs a document, the pen records the pen movements, angle, and tip pressure, which is then encrypted with the strong Rijndael algorithm. The data is then sent over the internet to be compared against a copy of one's signature stored on a secure server to verify its authenticity.

I like this technique because it captures much more than the simple line pattern of a signature, which is relatively easy for a skilled forger to imitate. However, my concern is that it may reject too many valid signatures -- I know that my own signature varies quite a bit depending on my mood, level of fatigue, and how much of a hurry I'm in.

Comments

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Has a lot of security problems by T_Rex_212 2:54:22 pm mst / 6 January 2001 / # 1

In addition to the variability mentioned by Paul, there is also the problem of ease of reproduction. Sure your biometric is securely encrypted in route to the mother computer - but then the information belongs to whomever can lay their grubby little electronic fingers on it. This has already come to light with companies that use those little signature pads for you to sign your credit card reciept and with UPS, which according to one article last year was selling this biometric data. Bruce Schneier wrote a good article on the subjects of biometrics about two years back. It can be found on the website of Counterpane Labs.

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