A local Melbourne council plans to deploy finger vein readers in a library to keep tardy staff in check.
The Australian Services Union said it had confirmation from the City of Monash Council that the scanners would hit libraries next month, despite the council earlier telling ABC radio it was yet to make a decision.
A Hitachi vein reader
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SC understands that the council will deploy a fleet of web-based Hitachi finger scanner units through reseller TimeTarget.com.au.
The company's director Bruce McKenzie was unavailable for comment at the time of publication and staff declined to confirm the deal.
The company said it had more than 220 customers spread across 2500 sites in Australia and New Zealand and had some 40,000 staff.
TimeTarget.com.au guaranteed on its web site that the system would cut wages by 1 percent or it would supply the units for free.
It also allowed management to roster "lowest cost" staff.
The roster can be accessed via basic web portal over the public internet. Data was stored in a Microsoft SQL database.
Further details were not known about what data was transmitted over the internet.
SQL injection attacks against application databases were one of the most prolific exploits on the web.
Australia has no privacy law to protect or secure biometric information, meaning biometric systems could capture and store sensitive information without limitation.
This had caused concern among civil liberty groups including the Biometrics Institute which enforced minimum privacy and security standards on its signatory members.
"The Biometrics Institute promotes the responsible use of biometrics and therefore always encourage any company considering the use of biometrics to seek our advice in order to ensure that the technology is implemented in a responsible way, with due consideration to privacy and in line with the Australian Privacy Act," manager Nadia Figol said.
The institute confirmed that TimeTarget.com.au was not a member.
Vein recognition improved on traditional fingerprint scanners because of its low false acceptance rate of around .001 percent.
It uses light to penetrate a users' finger to read vein patterns which are unique and thought to be impossible to replicate.
Fingerprint scanners were less accurate and susceptible to exploits.
Vein structures change after death, which means severed fingers cannot be used to fool the readers.
Such instances emerged in Malysia when hijackers had stolen a Mercedes using a severed finger which was used with a fingerprint reader to start the vehicle.
A local Melbourne council plans to deploy finger vein readers in a library to keep tardy staff in check.
The City of Monash told ABC NewsRadio that it had not yet made a decision to deploy the scanners.
But Australian Services Union said it had confirmation from the union that the scanners will hit libraries next month.
SC understands that the the council will deploy a fleet of Hitachi finger scanner units through reseller TimeTarget.com.au.
The company's director was unavailable for comment.
Vein recongition was a step above traditional fingerprint scanners because of its low false acceptance rate of around .001 percent.
It uses light to penetrate a users' finger to read vein patterns which are unique and claimed to be impossible to replicate.
Vein structures change after death, which means severed fingers cannot be used to fool the readers.
Such instances emerged in Singapore when hijackers had stolen a BMW using a severed finger which was used with a fingerprint reader to start the vehicle.
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