Medical Design and Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • Med Tech Resources
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks Tuesdays
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • The Big 100
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Video
  • 2022 Leadership in MedTech
    • 2022 Leadership Voting!
    • 2021 Winners
    • 2020 Winners
  • Women in Medtech

‘Brainprints’ Could Replace Fingerprints as High-Security Clearance

April 20, 2016 By Sam Brusco

As you know if you’ve ever reacted to anything, humans have a set of learned responses to stimuli. Things like fear, anger, and joy are relatively easy to notice and don’t vary much from person to person.

But the brain’s response is actually much more complex than that—complex stimuli like people or food generate specific individual responses. And according to a team of Binghamton University researchers, the responses are so unique to an individual they could one day replace fingerprints as security clearance.

The CEREBRE (Cognitive Event-Related Recognition) protocol used an EEG headset to record brain activity for 50 people looking at a series of 500 images designed to stimulate the primary visual, facial recognition, and gustatory/appetitive systems. Images ranged from celebrities, to food, to evocative words like “conundrum.”

According to the researchers, the participants’ brains’ reaction was so different that a computer could tell each person’s “brainprint” apart from another with absolute 100 percent accuracy. That’s quite the incredible stride, considering the original study done by the researchers last year reported a 97 percent accuracy.

Now that this study has exhibited 100 percent accuracy, the researchers already have practical ideas: “It’s a big deal going from 97 to 100 percent because we imagine the applications for this technology being for high-security situations, like ensuring the person going into the Pentagon or the nuclear launch bay is the right person,” said Sarah Laszlo, lead researcher and Assistant Professor of Psychology at Binghamton University in a release.

Using a “brainprint” as identification might actually be more secure than a fingerprint or retinal scanner, because brain biometrics can’t be stolen the way a fingerprint would.

“If someone’s fingerprint is stolen, that person can’t just grow a new finger to replace the compromised fingerprint — the fingerprint for that person is compromised forever. Fingerprints are ‘non-cancellable,’ said Laszlo. Brainprints, on the other hand, are potentially cancellable. So, in the unlikely event that attackers were actually able to steal a brainprint from an authorized user, the authorized user could then ‘reset’ their brainprint.”

This system isn’t expected to replace low-security applications like individual computers or cell phones, but rather for the highest of high-security settings like the Pentagon or Air Force Labs—where only a select few are authorized to enter.

Related Articles Read More >

A rat holding its face with its paws
Ultrasound research with rats shows potential for depression therapy
Tivic Health CEO Jennifer Ernst
Sinus pain is just the beginning for Tivic Health’s CEO
A series of before-and-after brain scans showing improvement in long COVID patients after hyperbaric oxygen therapy
Long COVID study finds potential in hyperbaric oxygen therapy
microrobot-purdue-university
This microrobot device could remove brain hemorrhages caused by stroke

DeviceTalks Weekly.

August 12, 2022
DTW – Medtronic’s Mauri brings years of patient care to top clinical, regulatory, scientific post
See More >

MDO Digital Edition

Digital Edition

Subscribe to Medical Design & Outsourcing. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading medical design engineering magazine today.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
DeviceTalks

DeviceTalks is a conversation among medical technology leaders. It's events, podcasts, webinars and one-on-one exchanges of ideas & insights.

DeviceTalks

New MedTech Resource

Medical Tubing

Enewsletter Subscriptions

Enewsletter Subscriptions

MassDevice

Mass Device

The Medical Device Business Journal. MassDevice is the leading medical device news business journal telling the stories of the devices that save lives.

Visit Website
MDO ad
Medical Design and Outsourcing
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • MedTech100 Index
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Medical Design Sourcing
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • R&D World
  • About Us/Contact
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe to Print Magazine
  • Subscribe to E-newsletter
  • Attend our Monthly Webinars
  • Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
  • Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media LLC. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • Med Tech Resources
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks Tuesdays
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • The Big 100
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Video
  • 2022 Leadership in MedTech
    • 2022 Leadership Voting!
    • 2021 Winners
    • 2020 Winners
  • Women in Medtech