Strengthening the security barricades

UNIFIED THREAT

"Activity in the market is strongly moving towards authentication. It's a large part of our business intentionally but also because it's happening out there too," he said. "The unified threat management approach was introduced two years ago. It's now gone full circle. What we're talking about today is enhancement and giving the user a trusted gateway. Authentication is not a replacement technology; it's about non-repudiation." Whiteley advised resellers to pitch authentication as another element of the existing security platform.

"The key thing is that it equals trust. With all the security attacks out there, the issue for consumers is a lack of confidence," he said. "They are asking 'Can I trust that site I'm going to?' They also need to know the person coming in can be trusted.

"It's not just banking -any organisation with online transactions is affected."

While tokens have proven invaluable for some, more unorthodox approaches to authentication are growing in popularity. Unixpac managing director, Tom Piotrowski, said the niche security distributor was now investigating biometrics options from US-based vendor, BioPassword. Its two-factor authentication tool determines a user's authenticity through login and password details along with their unique keystroke rhythm.

"The problem with tokens is that you have to carry them with you. BioPassword is extending the biometric concept into creating two-factor authentication with no extra physical component; it's just you with your keyboard," Piotrowski said. "Normally you'd login with your user name and password. It reads the magic number and you get access to the system. With BioPassword, this bit is replaced by a software engine reading the rhythm you have typed your password in with. It verifies this as well."

SECURED CONTRACTS

Although the idea sounds futuristic, BioPassword has already secured contracts in the US with Citrix and several Credit Union institutions. Biometix managing director and chairman of the technical committee at the Biometrix Institute, Dr Ted Dunstone, said the Federal Government was showing a lot of interest in biometrics. Projects underway include using smartcards and a biometric in the Australian access/ID card, as well as drivers' licenses.

Speaker verification was one of the most popular technologies, and had been employed by government and financial institutions. Entertainment distributor, Austar, has also deployed Nuance's Verifier software across its video-on-demand services. Dunstone said the technology sat on top of an existing voice platform, making it an easy add-on to the customer's existing systems. He predicted largescale adoption over the next 12-18 months by private businesses.

Another area of opportunity for resellers included deploying facial recognition as part of a broader surveillance package, he said.

"Many of these [surveillance] vendors are starting to partner with face recognition systems providers to give customers another level of ability and something to add to existing offerings," Dunstone said. "There's an opportunity to go back to resell this as a value-add."