Voxx & Eyelock's "Myris" May Herald New Era in Cyber Security
Log into secure websites using only your eyes.
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If you were one of the 2 million customers affected by the security breach of Facebook and Google in early December, you may have a newfound appreciation for cyber security.
Internet security is a balance of simplicity and protection. Having a different, nonsensical password with lots of special characters and mixed casing for every website is the most secure, but also makes it very difficult to remember even one password, let alone the other dozens you may have created. Forgetting passwords can be a hassle, but writing them down somewhere leaves you vulnerable to low-tech hacks, like someone getting a hold of the password sheet living next to your monitor. So, how do you best protect your online self?
Electronics conglomerate Voxx believes the answer lies in the field of biometrics. Literally translated into “life measuring,” biometrics uses your unique body metrics as your passwords. There are many things that make you unique as a human being, such as finger and palm prints, facial ratios, even creases in your elbow. Some laptops already include fingerprint scanners, but Voxx is looking to take it one step further by making your iris into your passkey.
The iris is the colored part in your eye, which is ideally suited for biometrics purposes for several reasons. First and foremost, it is unique to you and there are many points of difference between you and the next closest match; not even identical twins can fool an iris scanner. Secondly, irises do not change over time nor are they sufficiently obscured by contact lenses or glasses, making them a great long-term option. And finally, as long as you have eyes you also have irises, so virtually anyone using a device with an optical screen is also eligible for this technology.
Voxx has partnered with Eyelock to deliver the Myris, which uses your iris as the master password, allowing you to use unique and extremely strong passwords for each website you frequent without ever having to remember a thing. Simply store each password in Myris’ companion software, browse to Facebook and allow the Myris sensors to look into your eyes. Myris will authenticate your identity, refer to its encrypted database, and plug in your password into the designated field. It is simple, fast, and as secure as one can be in the cyberverse.
The device itself is a small camera-like device, about the size of an ice hockey puck, and plugs into your USB port making it very portable. The Myris supports all popular operating systems, including Windows 7 and 8, Mac OSX and even Google’s Chrome OS. Price and availability have yet to be announced.
Photos by e_monk CC-BY-SA-3.0 and Colin-47 CC-BY-SA-3.0