Showing posts with label fingerprint. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fingerprint. Show all posts

Imprecise typing and fat fingers? Minuum keyboard app deals with it all


A keyboard that does not eat into half your screen. Take a moment to digest this. How would you feel if you could actually see the screen beyond the keyboard as you type? The guys over at Minnum have devised a way to restrict the mobile keyboard to the extreme lower half of the screen, without sacrificing speed and accuracy. The crowdfunding campaign for the keyboard has just come to an end with the project making 873 percent of the initial goal.

But wait, how do you manage to hit the keys you intend to if the keyboard is squeezed into such a small horizontal strip? That is the point, according to the makers of the keyboard. You can be as imprecise as you want and Minnum will still know exactly what you want to type.

The keyboard has a specialised auto-correction algorithm that interprets in real time “the difference between what you type and what you mean, getting it right even if you miss every single letter.” The smart auto-correction will correct your imprecise entering of text every single time.

Type away!

Minnum was inspired by a college project that looked to invent a better way of typing on touchscreen view without looking. In the video for its crowdfunding project, CEO Will Walmsley explains that the idea was to do away with the three tier keyboard, yet retain the essence of a QWERTY keyboard. There are tiers, but hardly so. The QWERTY format is still there since your eyes are so used to it. The typewriter kind of theme is just collapsed and squished.

The keyboard is supposed to be friendly for large fingers, throwing up magnification for precise typing. The keyboard is also moveable, so you can drag it around to the top or side of your screen, if need be.

The keyboard will be initially available only on Google Play, as the platform supports the ability for customising keyboards. People wanting the keyboard in iOS devices might have to wait it out as the Minnum team is looking to develop a version for iOS app developers to include in their software.

Interestingly, the team is looking to bring improved typing to the future of wearable computing. Since the keyboard is one dimensional – the letters are arranged in one row – it will be possible to type using Minnum on any kind of flat service.

“With Minuum you can type without any surface at all, simply by measuring the orientation of hand gestures in the air. This can be done in several ways, such as with an accelerometer/gyroscope in a ring, watch, armband, or handheld device, or with a camera capturing the hand from something like a Kinect, Leap Motion Controller, or Google glasses,” the company writes in its blog.

Minuum just concluded a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, raising $87,369 after putting out a $10,000 goal back last month. The backers of the crowdfunding project will receive their beta versions of the app in June, way before the rest of the world. Minuum is officially expected to hit Google Play Store by the end of this year.

Report by : Nishtha Kanal

Security flaw in fingerprint recognition software exposes Windows passwords


Following research by security consultants, it now stands confirmed that on gaining physical control of PCs, hackers can potentially extract Windows account passwords, taking advantage of a loophole. A report by Ars Technica now confirms the vulnerability was found on PCs sold by Dell, Acer, and at least 14 other manufacturers.

The report highlights that the loophole exists in several versions of the fingerprint-reading software known as UPEK Protector Suite. It added that Apple bought Authentec that had previously acquired the technology from privately held UPEK in 2010.

Early last month, an advisory issued by ElcomSoft revealed that a major security flaw had been discovered in the UPEK Protector Suite, a fingerprint reading software. This software had been shipping with most laptops equipped with UPEK fingerprint readers until Authentec acquired the company, and moved to another software. In its advisory, ElcomSoft detailed further that till very recently most major manufacturers such as Acer, ASUS, Dell, Gateway, Lenovo, MSI, NEC, Samsung, Sony, and Toshiba were using fingerprint readers manufactured by UPEK.

Security consultants confirm flaw (Image credit: Getty Images)

However now, a month later, two security consultants confirmed the existence of the vulnerability, and subsequently released an open-source software "that makes it easy to exploit it". The consultants found that easily deciphered passwords are stored in one of several registry keys located in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Software Virtual Token Passport, depending on the version of the application. "The duo said they released the software and additional information so that penetration testers, who are paid to penetrate the defenses of their customers, can exploit the weakness," adds the Ars Technica report.

The report quotes Brandon Wilson, one of the consultants, "From a penetration testing perspective, local administrator access is required to obtain the necessary registry key's value, so it only matters if you already have control of the PC. But since so many of these devices are used in corporate environments, it makes it easy to obtain domain credentials, and from there, easily expand an attack to other systems".

If the Protector Suite has not been activated, Windows does not save account passwords in the registry -- not unless users configure an account for automatic log-in. By deactivating the Windows login from within the Protector Suite, the password from the registry key will not be gone. "If the "passport" for that user is deleted from within the application, the password is also deleted. When uninstalling the application, an option is presented to the user to also delete the passport data. If left, the password remains, and if removed, the password is deleted, Wilson said," adds the report.

The UPEK Protector Suite manages a fingerprint reading hardware using which users can do away with typing passwords and instead swipe a finger to the same effect. Over time, the UPEK Protector Suite caches passwords, and users are offered almost instant logins to websites. “Logging into Windows by swiping a finger instead of clicking and typing a (probably long and complex) password sounds tempting. And, it works. A simple swipe of your finger, and you’re in. Wonderful; but what about security?,” the post reveals.

ElcomSoft mentions in its post that when several laptops running the UPEK Protector Suite were analysed, it was found that several Windows account passwords were stored in Windows registry in almost plain text -- “barely scrambled but not encrypted".


Report by: tech2 News Staff