Make Digital Signatures More Secure

Rainer Mauth

As digital signatures become increasingly important in electronic commerce, the LCI Computer Group (Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands) and the IMEC research center (Leuven, Belgium) have created a device that makes your handwriting eligible for authentication of electronic transactions. LCI-Smartpen , a ballpoint pen that writes on regular paper but is wirelessly connected to a PC, authenticates users by the biometric characteristics of their signature.

Smartpen measures specific characteristics of signatures such as speed, acceleration, forces in three dimensions, and the angle under which the pen is held. It then calculates the exact 3-D trajectory of the ballpoint and stores it, including its dynamics as a token for later comparison. Says Roger van Ov erstraeten, the president of IMEC, "Smartpen stores the complete dynamics of a signature. That's why it is more secure than a [plain] written signature."

The device looks and feels like a normal ballpoint pen. However, it also houses a complete computer system, including acceleration sensors, a digital signal processor (DSP), a wireless transmitter, and a cryptography unit that secures data transmission between the PC and the pen.

Applications include electronic-commerce transactions and banking on the Internet, access to medical records, and also protection against credit-card fraud. Says Sam Asseer, CEO of LCI: "Issuing an electronic transaction on the Internet is now incontestable."

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Where to Find

LCI Computer Group

Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
Phone:    +31 73 64 55255
Fax:      +31 73 64 55296
Internet: 
http://www.lcigroup.com


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Smarter Than Your Average Pen

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Smartpen authenticates users through a signature's biometric characteristics.