22 ta’ Ottubru 2013 |
Matul is-snin, programmi tal-komputer u apparat bħal smartphones u tablets li jagħrfu l-uċuħ, l-ilħna u l-marki tas-swaba u li konna narawhom fil-films tal-fantaxjenza, issa daħlu sew fil-ħajja tagħna ta’ kuljum. Il-konsorzju TABULA RASA, b’investiment mill-UE għal jiżvilupp ta’ riċerka u innovazzjoni, qiegħed jaħdem biex jistabbilixxi kemm dan is-software innovattiv huwa effikaċi, b’mod partikolari kontra “spoofing”, l-użu ta’ oġġetti ta’ kuljum bħal ritratti, vuċijiet irrekordjati, u irtokk biex iqarqu jew jattakkaw sistemi ta’ sigurtà biometrika.
Is-sistemi bijometriċi urew li huma fost l-aktar soluzzjonijiet ta’ sigurtà effiċjenti li jeżistu. Madankollu, għad fadal xi nuqqasijiet, u li wħud minnhom ġew ukoll ippubbliċizzati fil-midja internazzjonali. Il-konsorzju Tabula Rasa huwa magħmul minn 12-il organizzazzjoni differenti minn seba’ pajjiżi li, għal perjodu ta’ tliet snin, ħadmu flimkien biex jidentifikaw l-akbar numru ta’ nuqqasijiet possibbli u b’hekk iżviluppaw l-aħjar sistemi bijometriċi aktar siguri.
Matul il-perjodu ta’ riċerka, Tabula Rasa organizzat “Spoofing Challenge”, fejn riċerkaturi minn madwar id-dinja kienu mħeġġa jiżviluppaw u jwettqu attakki fuq għad ta’ sistemi bijometriċi. Il-parteċipanti wrew li jeżistu ħafna modi differenti u kreattivi li jaqbżu s-sistemi tas-sigurtà. L-attakk l-aktar innovattiv propost waqt din l-isfida kien l-użu tal-irtokk, u b’hekk sistema 2D li tirrikonoxxi l-uċuħ għarfet lill-parteċipant bħala l-utent leġittimu. Kontestanti oħra użaw b’suċċess metodi aktar komuni bħal ritratti, maskri jew marki tas-swaba foloz (“gummy fingers”).
Dr Sébastien Marcel, koordinatur tal-proġett Tabula Rasa, qal: “Kien ikun impossibbli li twettaq tali riċerka fuq skala hekk kbira u bil-kollaborazzjoni ta’ tant imsieħba minn madwar l-UE mingħajr investiment mill-Unjoni Ewropea. Minbarra apparat u informazzjoni aktar siguri, permezz ta’ softwer aġġornat, il-kontroll tal-fruntieri u l-verifiki tal-passaporti se jkunu aktar effiċjenti u preċiżi. Nemmnu li se jkunu ħafna dawk l-organizzazzjonijiet li se jsibu din i-riċerka interessanti u utli, fosthom kumpaniji teknoloġiċi, uffiċċji postali, banek, produtturi ta’ telefons ċellulari, kif ukoll fornituri tas-servizzi online.”
Sabiex din ir-riċerka setgħet titwettaq bl-aktar mod estensiv, l-UE investiet €4.4 miljun, waqt li l-Konsorzju investa €1.6 miljun oħra.
Ryan Heath, il-kelliem responsabbli għall-Aġenda Diġitali u Teknoloġiji Diġitali tal-Kummissjoni Ewropea qal; “Ħafna minna jżommu informazzjoni personali u kunfidenzjali fuq smartphones u tablets. Għalhekk għandna jkollna moħħna mistrieħ li dawn l-għodod ta’ sigurtà bijometrika jkunu tal-ogħla livell. Il-Kummissjoni Ewropea hija sodisfatti bis-suċċess ta’ Tabula Rasa. Sal-lum ma’ kien hemm ebda riċerka oħra li kisbet riżultati daqstant avvanzati fis-sigurtà bijometrika.”
Further Reading
About the TABULA RASA Consortium
The TABULA RASA project brings together 12 research and industry partners from 5 Member States, Switzerland and China. It is led by the Idiap Research Institute (Switzerland) and also involves the University of Southampton (UK), University of Cagliari (Italy), University of Oulu (Finland), Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Spain), EURECOM (France), a Graduate school and research centre in communication systems, Morpho (Safran) (France), the world leader in biometric solutions, Starlab Barcelona (Spain), a company that turns science into technologies, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (China), KeyLemon (Switzerland), a company providing convenient and secure access solutions based on face and speaker recognition, BIOMETRY (Switzerland), a company providing multimodal simultaneous biometrics with random challenge response, and the Centre for Science, Society and Citizenship (Italy).
http://www.tabularasa-euproject.org
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoHA9lGDrtEUim_mdtPwQ6w
About EU-funded research in this field
The European Commission currently supports research in cyber security and online privacy through the Framework Programmes (currently FP7) and the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme ICT Policy Support Programme. For the period 2007-2013, €350 million were invested in this field and at least €500 million are likely to be available under Horizon 2020.
With this research, the Commission wants to develop trustworthy ICT solutions ensuring a secure and reliable digital environment in Europe. This research addresses security, trust and privacy coherently from technological, economic, legal, social perspectives, helping to promote innovation and economic growth in the EU, while protecting Europe’s society, economy, assets and fundamental rights.
The European Parliament and Council are currently discussing the Cybersecurity Strategy for the European Union and a Directive on Network and Information Security presented by the European Commission in February 2013 to make the EU’s online environment the most secure in the world.
For more information about Cybersecurity and Online Privacy go to Brochure on ICT Trust & Security Research in FP7 and Digital Agenda for Europe.
About European research and innovation funding
In 2014 the European Union will launch a new, seven year research and innovation funding programme called Horizon 2020. Since 2007 the EU has already invested nearly €50 billion in research and innovation projects to support Europe’s economic competitiveness and extend the frontiers of human knowledge. The EU research budget represents around 12 percent of total public spending on research by the EU’s 28 member states and is focused mainly in areas like health, the environment, transport, food and energy. Research partnerships with the pharmaceutical, aerospace, car and electronics industries have also been formed to encourage private sector investment in support of future growth and high skill job creation. Horizon 2020 will have an even greater focus on turning excellent ideas into marketable products, processes and services.
For the latest information on European research and innovation, go to:
http://www.facebook.com/innovation.union
http://twitter.com/innovationunion
EU Representative Contact: Michael JENNINGS