nCipher Trials Biometric Security System at Heathrow

By Brian Turner

Heathrow Airport is trialling a biometric security system from nCipher that offers heightened levels of security.

Travellers at the airport can enrol in a trial of the biometric security solution, known as miSense, which utilises iris and face recognition technology. The system is expected to speed up airport check in and boarding.

The system will be available over the next few months as a trial to passengers on select flights to and from Hong Kong or Dubai. Passenger simply register their fingerprint at a self-service kiosk. This information along with the boarding pass is then used to verify them at security control and when boarding the aircraft.

nCipher’s Hardware Security Modules provides security and encryption of the collected biometric data. The modules generate and protect the unique cryptographic keys that are used to identify and validate each traveller based on their biometric information.

The firm encryption and protection of data provided by the technology, should allay concerns about the collection of personal data and its storage. The system protects the integrity of stored passenger information.

The trail is scheduled to run until the end of January 2007.