Synaptics, the company most likely responsible for the trackpad on your laptop has released a new product, a 4x10mm fingerprint sensor which goes by the name of IronVeil.  The idea behind the product is to incorporate it into peripherals and pair it with Windows Passport to allow you to log in by touching your mouse or keyboard, similar to the current generation of cellphones.  Synaptics also suggests it could be used in eSports to ensure that the person behind the mouse is indeed who they claim to be.  The Tech Report tried out a Thermaltake Black V2 mouse with the sensor embedded and talk about their experiences with the mouse as well as introduce you to the FIDO Alliance and some of the authentication process which occurs behind the scenes in their recent article.

One cannot help but point out that while passwords can be hashed and salted, the same cannot be said for fingerprints which leads us back to previously mentioned concerns about the security of the online storage databases these prints would be stored in.  The eternal battle of convenience versus security rages on.

"Synaptics' IronVeil is a tiny fingerprint sensor module that serves as the foundation for a variety of new authentication techniques for home and business users alike. We've spent a couple weeks with a pre-production IronVeil mouse, and we've explored how it might be used in practice."

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