One of the locations receiving the most attention when it comes to improved security are airports. Ever since the devastating security breaches that continue to plague the industry, solutions to better address these concerns have been sought after.

 

Biometric technologies offer a heightened level of security as they utilize unique individual characteristics to positively identify a person and ensure that those boarding the planes are each accounted for, and truly, who they say they are.

 

Now travelers at Heathrow Airport in London can begin enrolling in a trial of the latest biometric security to better ease their travels by speeding up airport check in and boarding as well as addresses and security concerns.

 

The solution, miSense, is a biometric airport security system that utilizes fingerprint, iris and face recognition technology and will be available over the next few months as a trial to passengers on select flights to and from Hong Kong or Dubai. Passenger need simply enroll their fingerprint at a self-service kiosk.

 

To guarantee security and encryption of the data collected for the biometrics, the solution utilizes nCipher's Hardware Security Modules. According to news release these modules, "generate and protect the unique cryptographic keys that are used to identify and validate each traveler based on their biometric information."

 

A typical concern with biometrics has been the protection of collected personal data and its storage. By including technology that offers firm encryption and protection, the likelihood of biometrics becoming more accepted will also increase.

 

"Protecting the integrity of stored passenger information underpins the security of miSense and we are delighted that nCipher technology has been selected to play a vital role in this process," Commented Alex van Someren, chief executive officer, nCipher in a statement to the press.

 

The trail is slated to run until the end of January 2007.