Signature-Authentication Toolmaker Hopes To Replace Text-Based PasswordsSignature-Authentication Toolmaker Hopes To Replace Text-Based Passwords

Security Biometrics Inc. has launched a free signature-authentication tool designed to replace text-based passwords and PINs for desktops and PDAs.

The software, introduced Thursday and distributed through the company's Web site, enables use of a graphics tablet to sign in as an authorized user for a Windows 2000 or XP desktop. Tablet maker Wacom Technology Co. owns 41% of the core technology behind the product, called BioSign.

A free version of BioSign is also available for use with PDAs that run the Palm or Windows operating systems. Customers can pay $39.95 for a version that can apply signature authentication to open Word or PDF documents on PCs or handheld devices.

BioSign builds user profiles based on pen force, speed, and the angle with which the pen is held. The software constantly refines the profile based on new information gathered each time a user signs in.

"The more times you sign, the more accurate it becomes," Chris Farnworth, executive VP of corporate development, says, noting that BioSign has 99.8% accuracy.

The software supports Microsoft's Active Directory, so user profiles created through BioSign can be matched with directory profiles.

In releasing BioSign for free, Security Biometrics is trying to build interest in a new technology. While rare today, authentication based on how people sign their names could someday have a place in retail stores when a person buys merchandise with a credit card or an ATM card, says Jonathan Eunice, an analyst for high-tech researcher Illuminata. The technology could also be used to identify bank customers or to sign for packages.

"All of the places where signatures are the historic mark of authentication could adopt signature-behavior technology," Eunice says. "You can insert a better form of authentication without bothering people with fingerprints or eye scans. I do expect that over the next 10 years, signature systems will become common recording mechanisms."

But for high-scale, enterprise use, BioSign will have to support directories from IBM, Oracle, or Sun Microsystems, Eunice says. While Microsoft would argue differently, Active Directory is used primarily for corporate intranets or other internal use.

Security Biometrics licenses BioSign's PenFlow technology from the Israeli company WonderNet Ltd., Farnworth says. The licensee can distribute PenFlow in North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Security Biometrics has a pilot project under way with Barton Insurance Brokers in Vancouver, British Columbia.