Diamond Fortress Technologies is now offering Android developers ICE Unlock, a platform that unlocks an Android device via the user’s fingerprint. A touchless biometric solution, ICE Unlock utilizes the device’s camera and complex mathematics to create a high quality map of a fingerprint and to verify identity.
ICE Unlock works with existing hardware on more than 500 million Android devices on the market. Once installed, unlock processing and fingerprint verification takes less than a second. Users are required to register a login pin to ensure they are never locked out of their phone in an emergency.
ICE Unlock does not store a picture of the fingerprint. It takes the image and converts it to a template using complex mathematical algorithms. The resulting template is encrypted and stored in the secure layer of the mobile device. It can also be stored securely on an enterprise wide server.
Onyx, the engine that powers ICE Unlock, utilizes the rear-facing camera as the fingerprint collection sensor. Onyx eliminates the need for hardware peripherals or device form-factor redesign for scanner integration. Images captured from a mobile device's camera are 'normalized' by the software resulting in accurate fingerprint rendering and identification.
If a user’s finger is dirty or it has a scratch, Onyx will still capture the fingerprint. The software compensates for distortion by allowing adjustments in tolerance levels. If by default it is scanning 100 data points, Onyx can lower it and still get a reliable match.
Developers interested in adding ONYX to their own Android applications can purchase and download it here.