The hackers can not copy your tears! Still… Tears keep our eyes hydrated. They even have the power to "cure" us from an intense psychological charge. Can they protect our personal data on the Internet?
Stephen Mason, an Australian ophthalmologist, believes he has a very powerful weapon against hackers. He calls it the "world's first unique biometric pin" and it's basically a new mechanism that scans tears and then uses them as codes accesss.
Mason dropped the weight of his research on the cornea and less on the iris. This is a rule in optical scanners anyway, as hackers cannot copy the unique way they change their eyes every time they cry.
The scanner is able to recognize a face, as each cornea has a kind of unique "map". Mason's code, however, is expected to make their lives much more difficult hacker. No matter how much they try to use the victim's details from the last time she connected with him account of, the system will constantly throw them out. Why; Because since the eyes change every time they tear, so does the system expect the data to change slightly each time.
"The surface of the cornea is wet thanks to tears, so our data changes from one minute to the next," explains Maison in the Financial Times. "Therefore, every set of data recorded by each eye presents real miniature variations," he adds.
The goal of the experts now is to test the new technology on smartphones, where it could be used to secure any payments or access to other services, such as email. If Maine is right and the "single biometric pin" proves effective, then it's possible that it could even be incorporated into ATMs or security doors.
