EyeVerify: Using Your Eyes to Unlock Your Phone

As most of you may know from our previous blog entries, we have taken an interest in security when it comes to technology. We are constantly looking for ways to make our technology more secure and keep it out of the hands of hackers. You might be asking why there is a need for increased security measures in regards to our phones. As smartphones are becoming smarter and storing more sensitive information, technology has to evolve to make things more secure and out of the hands of potential hackers. There is a new idea that has come out that sounds like something out of a James Bond movie, eye verification.  Instead of using numeric passwords or even fingerprint verification, there is an idea to use an eye scanner to unlock phones.

Developed by EyeVerify and introduced at the Mobile World Congress, Eyeprint is an application that is being worked on that will use the camera on your mobile phone to decide whether or not to unlock the phone. It will do this by recognizing the user’s eye veins from a photo snapped by the user then verifies a match before unlocking the phone. Below is a chart that explains exactly how this process works.

People are skeptical when it comes to this eye scanning technology. What if you acquire an eye injury that ruptures veins in your eye? EyeVerify says that it only needs one eye to authenticate you. If you rupture veins in both eyes, it seems as though you might be out of luck. Also, do you want to have to scan your eye every single time you want to open your phone? Either way, this application is still under development and the CEO of the company says that it will potentially be available at the beginning of next year. Are you willing to try this out?