Forget the PIN, just look into the ATM's camera

November 30, 1997
Web posted at: 7:38 p.m. EST (0038 GMT)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Can't seem to remember that infernal PIN number for your bank card? Don't worry. Thanks to a technology right out of James Bond, you might not need it much longer.

Just step up to the camera while your eye is scanned. And don't try to play tricks. The iris -- the colored part of the eye the camera will be checking -- is unique to every person, more so than fingerprints.

And, for the customers who can't remember their personal identification number or password and scratch it on the back of their cards or somewhere that a potential thief can find, no more fear of having an account cleaned out if the card is lost or stolen.

Sensar Inc., a New Jersey-based company, is preparing to offer eye-scanning to ATM manufacturers as an alternative to passwords and PINs for automatic teller machines.

It plans to unveil the system publicly at the Banking Administration Institute's conference in New Orleans on December 3.

How the system works

The system works like this: When a customer puts in a bank card, a stereo camera locates the face, finds the eye and takes a digital image of the iris at a distance of up to three feet.

The resulting computerized "iris code" is compared with one the customer will initially provide the bank. The ATM won't work if the two codes don't match.

The entire process takes less than two seconds, said Rob Van Naarden, vice president of marketing and sales for Sensar, a commercial spinoff of Sarnoff Laboratories, which was involved in the development of color television and the laser and did much of the work on the iris ID system.

Sensar says the system works equally well with customers wearing glasses or contact lenses and at night. No special lighting is needed. The camera also does not use any kind of beam. Instead, a special lens has been developed that will not only blow up the image of the iris, but provide more detail when it does.

Iris scans are much more accurate than other high-tech ID systems available that scan voices, faces and fingerprints.

250 features unique to iris

Scientists have identified 250 features unique to each person's iris -- compared with about 40 for fingerprints -- and it remains constant through a person's life, unlike a voice or a face. Fingerprint and hand patterns can be changed through alteration or injury.

Even identical twins do not have identical irises, Van Naarden said.

"The iris remains the same from 18 months after birth until five minutes after your die," Van Naarden said.

ATMs already have the technical capacity to transfer money between accounts, provide big-money withdrawals and do other non-banking related functions such as selling sports and theater tickets.

But those services are being held back by the possibility of fraud through stolen bank cards, personal identification numbers and passwords, Van Naarden said.

"The reason you can't get more than $200 to $400 out of your ATM at one time is because the bank can't really be sure who you are," Van Naarden said.

If customers with large amounts of money can use ATMs for almost all of their transactions, banks will collect more in transaction fees. "That's what's in this for them," Van Naarden said.

During tens of thousands of tests by Sensar and outside testing laboratories, there has never been a false acceptance of a test customer, Van Naarden said. The false rejection rate is less than 1 percent, he said.

System costs up to $3,000 an ATM

When the system is fully operational, a bank customer will have an iris record made for comparison when an account is opened. The bank will have the option of identifying either the left or right eye or both.

"It requires no intervention by the customer," Van Naarden said. "They will simply get a letter telling them they no longer have to use the PIN number."

And, scam artists beware, a picture of the card holder won't pass muster. The first thing the camera will check is whether the eye is pulsating.

"If we don't see blood flowing through your eye, you're either dead or it's a picture," Van Naarden said. "Either way, you get thrown out."

Sensar will be testing the system in a number of undisclosed banks through 1998. The first widespread use is expected the following year.

Although Van Naarden would not give a current cost, he said that once the system is widespread, it will add $2,000 to $3,000 to the cost of an average ATM machine, which now runs $35,000 to $40,000.

Copyright 1997   The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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