BUFFALO, NY — The latest in state-of-the-art innovations using distinct biometric measures for security identification goes straight to the heart—literally.
The Cardiac Scan, described as a “noncontact and continuous heart-based user authentication system,” utilizes low-level Doppler radar to identify not just each individual’s unique heart dimensions but its function and motion as the security code allowing entry to a system such as a laptop and then continues to monitor the heart to make sure the security hasn’t been breached by an unauthorized user[1].
“Cardiac motion is an automatic heart deformation caused by self-excitement of the cardiac muscle, which is unique to each user and is difficult, if not impossible, to counterfeit,” explained the authors of a pilot study on the system, to be presented this month at MobiCom 2017, the Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking, a conference sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery.
Heart-based biometrics systems have emerged in the past decade or so in measuring ECG signals, but those systems primarily use electrodes, whereas the Cardiac Scan is a noncontact, remote technology used to assess individual’s distinctive heart biometrics.
The system requires approximately 8 seconds to scan the heart on first use, and, after capturing the dimensions, can continuously monitor usage.
In a pilot study, the developers, with the University of Buffalo’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, in New York, evaluated the system, including its accuracy, authentication time, usability in complex conditions, and vulnerability.
They found that over four cardiac cycles, the Cardiac Scan achieved a 98.6% rate of balanced accuracy and a 4.42% equal error rate.
“The accuracy is not as high as a professional fingerprint solution, for instance, 10 finger prints in the border check; it is close to daily-life biometric system, such as face recognition,” lead author Dr Wenyao Xu, an assistant professor in the department of computer science and engineering, told theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology. Xu and his team have filed a patent on the Cardio Scan technology.
Some key advantages the Cardiac Scan could have over other biometric tools, such as fingerprints or retinal scans, include that users are automatically authenticated without requiring any contact with the device; users are continuously monitored and do not have to log in or log off when away from their computers.
The system could also be integrated with other existing one-pass user identification techniques to allow for continuous authentication during use.
Xu noted that the system is able to detect a heart’s distinctive features and motion regardless of how fast it is beating.
“The heart scan detects the distinctive motion feature oriented by the heart’s shape, structure, and function, [and] beat frequency won’t change these features,” he explained.
It’s analogous to facial recognition, where, no matter whether the subject is sitting or walking or running, their face won’t change, he said. “We try to find the ‘face’ in the heart.”
The system also can remarkably identify heart features even in a crowd, suggesting the potential to identify people of interest in a setting such as an airport security line.
“The radar can detect heart features without line of sight,” Dr Xu said. “It can detect and recognize people with any angles.”
Exposure to the signal of the Doppler radar poses no health risks and is an even lower signal strength than a Wi-Fi signal. “The reader is about 5 mW, even less than 1% of the radiation from our smartphones,” Dr Xu said.
The researchers plan to miniaturize the scanning system to allow for installation on the corners of computer keyboards.
One potentially important limitation of the system is the role of cardiovascular disease and how that might compromise the ability to authenticate a match, the researchers say. So far, in the pilot stage, the system has been tested using only healthy people, the authors noted.
But just as a heart condition may result in an “access denied” response, it could also feasibly serve as an early warning of potential heart disease, Xu speculated.
“It is an interesting topic to explore,” he said. “If someone cannot log in with a heart scan, he may want to see doctor and examine his heart health.”
Security Device, Diagnostic Tool?
In commenting on the technology, Dr John A Osborne (Dallas Cardiovascular Center, TX) agreed that the technology is intriguing in its use of the multiple measures of the heart as a unique identifier.
“I think it’s very intriguing,” he told theheart.org | Medscape Cardiology. “What’s interesting is even something simple like an ECG can be like a fingerprint because it’s unique for each person, but of course in that case, you have to be hooked up to wires.
“But this is interesting because it goes to the next step of looking at size and geometry and change in the motion of the heart.”
He added that the one potential key limitation of heart disease may compromise the system’s function as a security device—but could meanwhile provide value as a diagnostic tool.
“The numerous things that could happen to your heart mechanically or electrically could certainly be exploited diagnostically, so a limitation of security could be where the diagnostic usefulness comes in.”
The research was supported in part by the US National Science Foundation. Xu and his team have filed a patent on the Cardio Scan technology. Osborne had no relevant financial relationships.
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