Business Review Canada Weekly Round Up
Heartbeats To Replace Passwords
Security experts have found a way to safe guard your information that can’t be lost, stolen, or forgotten: Your heartbeat.
Usernames and passwords are fast becoming unreliable, and companies are turning toward internal features for authentication.
The newest development is the Nymi wristband currently in development by Canadian firm Bionym.
The hi-tech device monitors the unique pattern of the wearer’s heartbeat, which can be used to wirelessly unlock smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and cars. Shockingly, it could even be used to pay for shopping, or act as a replacement for your credit card PIN number in the future.
According to Foteini Agrafioti, co-founder of Bionym, the Nymi identifies people “not just their heart rate, but the actual shape of their heartbeat.”
An individual’s heartbeat is just as unique as a person’s fingerprints and is determined by the hearts, shape, size and position in the chest. Making it just as secure and effective as a fingerprint, however a heartbeat is near impossible to replicate unlike fingerprints that can be reproduced. The wristband is 99 percent accurate.
The CEO of Bionyms, Karl Martin explains that for Nymi to be fooled, a thief would not only have to steal the device but also imitate the owner’s heartbeat.
Exercise and certain medication could impact the reading, although Martin explains that, “the system tolerates regular variation.”
This innovative device can be preordered on September 4 with shipments beginning in early 2014.
One of the most entrepreneur-friendly countries in the world, Canada ranked number five in 2012 in terms of share of high-growth firms.
With much of Canada's manufacturing operations being sent offshore for lower labor costs, the economy is becoming more and more knowledge-based. Online businesses and others where you can keep your overhead low while scaling both locally and globally continue to be the best bet for new business owners.
Where should new business owners look to when wanting a piece of the pie in the Great White North?
