Brainprints may replace passwords for securing systems

A group of researchers has published a research paper that outlines a new biometric security procedure that might one day be used to replace passwords, retinal scans, and fingerprint data for securing systems. The paper is called “Brainprint” and according to the study, the way your brain reacts to certain words could be used to replace passwords in the future. The study was conducted by researchers from Binghamton University.

The team observed the brain signals of 45 volunteers as they read a list of 75 acronyms like FBI and DVD. Researchers recorded the reaction of the brain to each of the acronyms and focused on the part of the brain that is associated with reading and recognizing words.

The researchers found that each of the participant’s brains reacted differently to each of the acronyms. With a different reaction in the brain to the words by each user, the computer system was able to identify each of the volunteers with 94% accuracy. Those results suggest that brainwaves could be used by security systems for verifying identity.

One of the scientists working in the study, Sarah Laszlo, said that the big benefit with brain biometrics is that they are cancellable and can’t be stolen by malicious means such as fingerprint and retinal scans can. You can’t grow a new finger or eye of that biometric data is stolen, but the user could cancel a stolen brainprint and use a new one.

SOURCE: Binghamton.edu