Dark Reading is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them.Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Database Security
Authentication
Mobile
Privacy
Compliance
Identity & Access Management
Security Monitoring
Advanced Threats
Insider Threats
Vulnerability Management
Comments
The Hidden Dangers Of 'Bring Your Own Body'
Newest First  |  Oldest First  |  Threaded View
JulietteRizkallah
50%
50%
JulietteRizkallah,
 User Rank: Ninja
8/31/2016 | 2:39:10 PM
Think about the OPM breach is far more worse for individuals
I agree, we have only one body but can have many passwords.  I reminds me of the OPM breach in which sensistive data about former gov't employees and their family was stolen, information that you cannot erase and replace, information that can identity an individual solely.  But yet still information, not a finger, a pupil, a heart...i am staying away for biometrics until we have a better answer on how to keep that data safe...i am sure it will be a while.
Joe Stanganelli
50%
50%
Joe Stanganelli,
 User Rank: Ninja
8/30/2016 | 9:43:53 PM
Re: what will happen after a breach?
@Whoopty: The methodology might be the trick to it, but these types of biometrics -- fingerprints, heart rhythms, etc. -- are pretty replicable.
Joe Stanganelli
50%
50%
Joe Stanganelli,
 User Rank: Ninja
8/30/2016 | 9:40:24 PM
Re: what will happen after a breach?
"The aftermath of that data breach cost me an arm and a leg!"
Joe Stanganelli
50%
50%
Joe Stanganelli,
 User Rank: Ninja
8/30/2016 | 9:39:40 PM
Re: Security
Multiple InfoSec experts I know put it this way: You have ten fingers and ten toes -- and that's it.  But the number of possible passwords you can have is nearly infinite.

Besides: biometrics aren't generally protected under the 4th Amendment, whereas passwords (sometimes) are.
Whoopty
50%
50%
Whoopty,
 User Rank: Ninja
8/30/2016 | 7:28:23 AM
Re: what will happen after a breach?
Try a heart transplant! Biometric data can use internal metrics like your own unique heart rhythm, so I don't think plastic surgery would cut it. 
hykerfred
50%
50%
hykerfred,
 User Rank: Apprentice
8/29/2016 | 10:13:16 AM
what will happen after a breach?
What will happen when your biometrical data has been breached? Will you be fired or forced to take a long vacation since you are the vulnerability? Or will the company just provide you with some plastic surgery? :)
Whoopty
50%
50%
Whoopty,
 User Rank: Ninja
8/29/2016 | 6:58:53 AM
Security
I definitely want real safeguards in place before I hand over any biometric data to any companies. As you point out, while biometric data is more unique than passwords and other forms of security, it's still only as useful as the security in place protecting that data.

I'm also concerned that the NSA and other intelligence agencies would love to get their hands on that sort of data. I'd want guarantees that it would only be sent over in the case of a warranted, criminal investigation, not just scooped up randomly when I use it for a login.


COVID-19: Latest Security News & Commentary
Dark Reading Staff 6/1/2020
Stay-at-Home Orders Coincide With Massive DNS Surge
Robert Lemos, Contributing Writer,  5/27/2020
Register for Dark Reading Newsletters
White Papers
Video
Cartoon Contest
Write a Caption, Win a Starbucks Card! Click Here
Latest Comment: This comment is waiting for review by our moderators.
Current Issue
How Cybersecurity Incident Response Programs Work (and Why Some Don't)
This Tech Digest takes a look at the vital role cybersecurity incident response (IR) plays in managing cyber-risk within organizations. Download the Tech Digest today to find out how well-planned IR programs can detect intrusions, contain breaches, and help an organization restore normal operations.
Flash Poll
Twitter Feed
Dark Reading - Bug Report
Bug Report
Enterprise Vulnerabilities
From DHS/US-CERT's National Vulnerability Database
CVE-2020-13775
PUBLISHED: 2020-06-02
ZNC before 1.8.1-rc1 allows attackers to trigger an application crash (with a NULL pointer dereference) if echo-message is not enabled and there is no network.
CVE-2020-12607
PUBLISHED: 2020-06-02
An issue was discovered in fastecdsa before 2.1.2. When using the NIST P-256 curve in the ECDSA implementation, the point at infinity is mishandled. This means that for an extreme value in k and s^-1, the signature verification fails even if the signature is correct. This behavior is not solely a us...
CVE-2020-13764
PUBLISHED: 2020-06-02
common.php in the Gravity Forms plugin before 2.4.9 for WordPress can leak hashed passwords because user_pass is not considered a special case for a $current_user->get($property) call.
CVE-2020-13760
PUBLISHED: 2020-06-02
In Joomla! before 3.9.19, missing token checks in com_postinstall lead to CSRF.
CVE-2020-13761
PUBLISHED: 2020-06-02
In Joomla! before 3.9.19, lack of input validation in the heading tag option of the "Articles - Newsflash" and "Articles - Categories" modules allows XSS.