More Brazilian rubber-fingered ghosts

This time it's the port of Paranaguá (Portuguese - Folha de S. Paulo)

A Federal Police (PF) operation Monday at the port of Paranaguá found "silicone fingers" that were used by employees to forge their attendance and receive credit for days not worked.

The 25 "fingers" were tailor-made, reproducing the fingers of 14 employees. They were stored in desks at the port, labeled with the name of each worker. Even a tray (ed. mold?) was found.

Each of the workers have worked there for at least eight years, according to PF.

Federal Police are investigating whether there are other people involved in the fraud.*

According to their site, the port at Paranaguá is the largest bulk port in latin America.

Paranaguá port                                                                                                                 ©Digital Globe & Microsoft Corporation

See Brazilian ghost doctors have rubber fingers for a more in-depth analysis of why forcing time-and-attendance fraud into the realm of rubber fingers is actually a good thing.

Long story short, every person who participated in creating a facsimile of their fingerprint has also had to create a lot of evidence that they participated in a conspiracy to defraud their employer.

The fraud kit in this most recent case can be seen at the Folha link.



*Translation from Google & Bing translation services with an assist by me. For now, robots still have a hard time with Brazilian Portuguese. I sympathize.

TWIC update

Officials Confident In TWIC Readers As Comment Period Closes (Homeland Security Today)

As the comment period for identification card readers for US ports draws to a close Thursday, officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) remain confident that the overall personal identity verification program for port workers is on track.

Biometric Identity and Freight Shipping Crews

I had no idea that a quarter of the of the world's ocean-going labor force is Filipino.

Philippines Ratifies Convention 185 This Week (Handy Shipping Guide)

This now means that Filipino seamen, who represent around 25% of the labour force on merchant and other shipping ranging from general cargo and bulk freight vessels to tugboats and passenger liners, will now carry biometric identification designed to eliminate fraud and identity theft and ensure fair treatment of crews.

There's also a security angle, obviously.

Taiwan to launch biometric e-gates to speed up immigration clearance

Hot on the heels of its announcement that the success of its biometric passport regime points the way toward visa-free travel to the US, Taiwan is adopting other biometric travel technologies.

Taiwan to launch e-gates to speed up immigration clearance (Taiwan News)

Taiwan will officially launch e-gates, or automated immigration gates, at three airports and one seaport in January next year to speed up immigration clearance, an official said Wednesday. The e-gates, which are already being tested, will allow Taiwanese citizens who have registered their biometric data and hold valid passports to clear immigration through the automated gates, Shih Ming-teh, a division chief at the National Immigration Agency (NIA), told CNA. A total of 30 e-gates will be put into operation at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei Songshan Airport, Kaohsiung International Airport and Kinmen Seaport.

TWIC Isn't Keeping Ports Secure, GAO Says

Less Secure than state driver's licenses (National Journal)

Despite nine years of fine-tuning and more than $400 million in funding, a government-issued picture ID card used at U.S. ports provides less security than the average state-issued driver's license, a federal auditor told lawmakers Tuesday.

One of the biggest problems with the TWIC system is interoperability. If you own one location where your customers receive a service, it's all fine and good to have a proprietary, un-networked identity management system. If you're trying to control access at facilities scattered across the globe and managed by many different agencies, you have an ID management challenge of a completely different order.

Part of the solution is technical and part is political.

Interoperability is a term that covers a bit of both the technical and political aspects of ID management.

The solution to the TWIC problem is either a top down agreement among all ports to adopt the same ID management protocols and verification system or a strong standards based solution with a robust middleware integration.

SecurLinx can be of much help with the latter.

Ports, Security and Biometrics

U.S. maritime port security being neglected (PressOfAtlanticCity.com)

Aaron Ellis, spokesman for the American Association of Port Authorities, said TWIC cards are “far superior” to what was used in the past and are issued after significant background checks and are “very difficult” to duplicate and forge.

However, TWIC cards are little more than “flash cards” without the electronic readers, he said. Some port authorities are taking the financial risk of developing their own electronic card-reading system to improve security, he said.

With all the attention being paid to airline security, it's easy to overlook seaport infrastructure.

This article broaches two issues that are of particular interest to suppliers and consumers of biometric identity management systems: regulatory risk and interoperability.

Ports are fortunate that they haven't had a one-size-fits-all solution forced upon them, because the political process has a poor track record at devising systems that appropriately balance security and commercial interests (see the TSA's airport security regulations). The TWIC (Transportation Worker Identification Credential) system regulates the ID card to be used at ports and the process for obtaining one but it does not mandate how the individual ports use it. This offers ports the opportunity to adopt the security protocols that best match their individual circumstances.

This, however, puts the onus on ports to adopt the security protocols that best match their individual circumstances which presents challenges of its own.

As with many organizations, Ports can recognize a significant ROI (Return on Investment) by integrating biometric identity management techniques into their business processes, but calculating ROI involves weighing the cost and benefits of a decision over time.

If a port does everything perfectly, implementing a biometric identity management system that accomplishes the task of getting people into the facilities with dramatically reduced time and labor costs, risks remain that will alter the ROI calculation. Regulations might be enacted that impose other costs (regulatory risk), or other ports may adopt a different system that is incompatible with the system they use (interoperability risk).

Regulatory risk and interoperability risk are real, but technologies do exist that can help firms ameliorate these risks. SecurLinx has developed technology (middleware) that address both of these risks. Our middleware enables scalable and modular biometric deployments that facilitate integration with all major biometric service providers.

With SecurLinx technology, a firm that invests in a biometric identity management system and then opts to integrate that system with another system can do so cheaply and effectively. Moreover an organization that finds success with one type of biometric system (ex. fingerprint time-and-attendance) can integrate another type of system (ex. face-recognition) without starting from scratch or being forced to run two parallel and incompatible IT systems.

Biometrics should deliver maximum ROI. We can help.