Thumbs Up For BiometricsThumbs Up For Biometrics

Network security became a problem for the Chicago Housing Authority when employees kept forgetting their passwords. It was difficult for the three-person help desk, which supports 1,000 employees, to field all the password-reset requests, says Bryan Land, assistant CIO of the city department, which provides housing for low-income people.

What to do? Because employees can't lose their thumbprints, the housing authority decided to deploy biometric technology. The IT department bought a fingerprint-scanning mouse and a server from BioLink Technologies International that stores thumbprints to authorize network access.

Up next: fingerprint access for applications based on roles and employment status.