‘Your Pulse Could Be Your New Password’

Passwords, pin numbers, and credit cards could soon be a thing of the past.
Soon, your heart and your body might be used to keep track of just about everything if new technology is able to unlock “pulse passwords”.
Your heartbeat reveals more about you than your health, Bionym chief executive officer Karl Martin explained.
“There’s actually unique characteristics that relate to the size of the heart, the position of the heart, and the physiology surrounding the heart,” he said.
Our heartbeats are as unique to us as our fingerprints and now they are being used to replace passwords, key cards, and bank cards, CBS 2?s Kristine Johnson reported.
“It’s like your personal pin number is your heartbeat,” Mashable.com’s Lance Ulanoff said.
The technology could allow you to open a door without a key or have tech gadgets like smartphones and tablets unlock the second that you walk into a room. It sounds like something out of a science fiction movie, but experts say it is the wave of the future.
“It’s going to be a way for us to interact with the world around us without having to constantly identify ourselves,” Ulanoff explained.
Bionym, a Canadian company, developed a wristband to recognize the pattern of an individual pulse. The wristband transmits information that allows the user to do things like withdrawing money without a bank card.
“You don’t have to remember anything. You don’t have to do anything special,” Ulanoff said.
Bionym isn’t the only company developing concepts that use the human body as a form of identification. Motorola is working on a temporary tattoo that contains a computer chip and an antenna.

A pill that dissolves and turns the entire body into a transmitter is also in the works.
Security experts say traditional passwords don’t offer much protection from identity thieves.
“If they’re alpha numeric, and usually they are because they have to be easy to remember, they’re also correspondingly easier to break into,” security expert Rohit Sethi explained.
The new technology could pose considerable roadblocks for hackers because heartbeats cannot be replicated.
“You’re not going to have a piece of paper in your pocket with your password. You’re going to have it as part of your body so that is safer,” Ulanoff said.
Bionym’s wristband is so in tune with its owner that if somebody did steal it, it would not work. The wristband costs about $100 and is expected to hit stores in 2014.

Now this is very, very, very scary. I cannot believe that this is reality. I'm scared.

Now this is very, very, very scary. I cannot believe that this is reality. I'm scared.

Now this is very, very, very scary. I cannot believe that this is reality. I'm scared.

reply to post by devildogUSMC

“You don’t have to remember anything. You don’t have to do anything special,” Ulanoff said.

You just have to be alive.

reply to post by devildogUSMC


Hmmm, exactly how do they set all that up?

reply to post by stormdancer777


With either the pulse reading wristband that recognizes your pulse and transmits the information. Or the pill that turns your entire body into a sort of transmitter. Scary stuff.

reply to post by stormdancer777


bionym.com...

I sure hope that technology does not go this way. Outside of the "not fond of biometrics" factor, I have an intermittent arrhythmia.



I know that technology will continue to advance at a faster and faster pace. However, there are some really creepy things having to do with biometrics getting patented. It's like they said "well, they won't let us chip them so...what else can we do?"

reply to post by WhiteAlice


They make it looks sooooo cool.

And you are going to take that device off and just lay it on a nightstand in a strange place, in a strange town and sleep like a baby?

They should be honest and show it in its true form; a collar around your neck that grows with you from birth and is un-removable even after death.

Too bad the future of heart surgeries is going to be turbines. That would leave many people without access to many things.

www.youtube.com...

reply to post by devildogUSMC


Erm. Seems kinda dumb to me - peoples' vitals change with illness and as they age. Even gravity is not absolute.

So what happens if you die? Your family cannot get to your accounts?

It seems to me that some sort of inexpensive machine could be made to record your pulse and whatever else it needs., this machine could be incorporated into a pencil you use to sign at the bank. It could be incorporated into a handle on the door, it could transmit the information anywhere. How about a coffee cup in a restaurant. this technology wouldn't be hard to break.

soficrow
reply to post by devildogUSMC

 

Erm. Seems kinda dumb to me - peoples' vitals change with illness and as they age. Even gravity is not absolute.

Me too, I don't think this one is doable.

soficrow
reply to post by devildogUSMC

 

Erm. Seems kinda dumb to me - peoples' vitals change with illness and as they age. Even gravity is not absolute.

I'm reminded of that advertisement about the upcoming wonders of technology,

that was immediately spoofed

"wouldn't it be wonderful if you could open the door to your home just by using your voice"

"until you're locked out by a sore throat..."

or words to that effect...

you wake up one night to the smell of a gas leak
and are killed by the subsequent explosion

all because your readings don't match and your "smart" house won't open the door either because it doesn't recognize you, or doesn't think you should go outdoors in such an agitated state...

NightSkyeB4Dawn
reply to post by WhiteAlice

 

They make it looks sooooo cool.

And you are going to take that device off and just lay it on a nightstand in a strange place, in a strange town and sleep like a baby?

They should be honest and show it in its true form; a collar around your neck that grows with you from birth and is un-removable even after death.

actually a lot of these tech things could be very useful to individualsif properly hacked

the real danger here is how it's all being implemented to hoover up vast amounts of biodata

devildogUSMC
Now this is very, very, very scary. I cannot believe that this is reality. I'm scared.

Your pulse sent that to many times.

reply to post by Metaphysique


Yes and then they'd know my ticker sucks but then, they probably already know that. I wonder of bionym will alert you if you're in the early stages of cardiac arrest? Now if it did that, then what a selling point that could be, lol. Passwords and early warning!! You can trust us! Really!

reply to post by WhiteAlice

Also, what are they not telling us, if it isn't scary enough. Can they send as well as receive transmissions from your heart? Like, tell it to stop beating?

reply to post by devildogUSMC


Would depend one the device. I'm guessing since it just sits on the wrist that it's probably like one of those finger medical devices where they put white clip over your finger to take your pulse. Unlike a pacemaker, it wouldn't have electrodes buried into the heart muscle. So shouldn't be an issue at that location. If they made pacemaker that didn't require open heart surgery, that'd be a big deal and to be able to stop a heart from skin/wrist level would also mean you could control a rhythm. I'm guessing not.