The National Security Agency (NSA) wants to pinpoint phone users’ identities based on the way they swipe on their handsets.
For those who were weary of the security of your phone’s fingerprint reader, the NSA shares those concerns. According to Nextgov, the spying agency has begun testing “Mandrake”, a system that identifies users based on how they swipe their phone screen.
The technology is another aspect of handwriting recognition, occasionally called dynamic signature biometrics, and reportedly originated in the United States Air Force.
The technology, created by security and military technology firm Lockheed Martin, measures the shape, speed and acceleration of users’ finger movements. “Nobody else has the same strokes,” according to John Mears from Lockheed IT and Security Solutions. The technology will be able to tell if you are more deliberate or broad with your strokes.
Lockheed’s officials say they are not sure whether the NSA has rolled the technology out or how the agency will test it. The firm is also behind the Federal Bureau of Intelligence, or FBI’s, Next Generation Identification systems that cost $1 billion and has facial, fingerprint, retina and tattoo identification. The system may even be able to one day identify a person based on how they walk.
How the NSA wants to utilize the new phone identification system is yet to be seen. If the technology is successful, it could possibly be used for other functions. If it can improve the process of finding a date on Tinder, then they might be onto something.
Via Engadget
