Do you need a password? Not anymore, if a software developed at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology becomes mainstream. In this news release, Newswise writes that researchers have developed a software able "to identify computer users -- with high accuracy -- by their individual, distinct typing styles."

This "behaviometric" technology may one day be part of security systems to prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to computers and sensitive data.

The system prototype was developed in the Data Mining Lab of the Technion’s Computer Science Faculty by students Ido Yariv and Mordechai Nisenson, under the supervision of Technion Professors Ran El-Yaniv and Ron Meir.

Their paper, "Towards Behaviometric Security Systems: Learning to Identify a Typist," was presented at the European Conference on Machine Learning and Principles and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (ECML/PKDD 2003).

"This software is based upon a universal prediction algorithm," explains El-Yaniv. "It utilizes statistics gathered while a person types freely, and learns the specific behavior patterns that accurately identify the typist." He goes on to explain that time differential patterns between consecutive keystrokes can uniquely determine a user. In some cases, this can be accomplished after only a very few keystrokes.

Is the system really accurate?

The system’s accuracy depends upon the length of its training. But even after a relatively short session consisting of several typed sentences, the system can distinguish the user from potential intruders with around 90 percent accuracy from a sentence as short as ‘What did you do today?’ After its initial training, the system continues monitoring the user and obtaining more keystroke sequences, allowing it to reach extremely high rates of recognition.

Now, the researchers want to check the system’s reliability by introducing some "noise" changing the typing signature, like a finger injury. Will they break the fingers of their testers? The story doesn't go that far.

Source: American Technion Society, via Newswise, September 29, 2003

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A devastating burst of gamma rays may have caused one of Earth's worst mass extinctions, 443 million years ago.

A team of astrophysicists and palaeontologists says the pattern of trilobite extinctions at that time resembles the expected effects of a nearby gamma-ray burst (GRB). Although other experts have greeted the idea with some scepticism, most agree that it deserves further investigation.

GRBs are the most powerful explosions known. As giant stars collapse into black holes at the end of their lives, they fire incredibly intense pulses of gamma rays from their poles that can be detected even from across the universe for 10 seconds or so.

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This might be the case if a new computer system developed by British Aerospace proves to be successful. The Electronic Telegraph covers the story, in "Computer system 'can land aircraft without air traffic controllers'."

British Aerospace scientists have developed a revolutionary airborne computer system that they claim can land aircraft safely without human air traffic controllers. It will enable a pilot to determine an aircraft's landing path simply by pressing a button in the cockpit.

The new technology has been developed by BAE Systems, the British defence and aerospace company, and aims to eliminate human error, save on fuel and increase flight safety. If successful, it will also threaten the jobs of 40,000 air traffic controllers worldwide.

Here is an illustration showing how the system works (Credit: Electronic Telegraph)

When will this system be operational?

The company plans to introduce the system, which has so far cost £76 million, half of which has been funded by the European Commission, in three phases.

The first, involving the onboard computer determining the safest flight path to a position identified by a human air traffic controller, was successfully tested in March. BAE plans a full-scale trial introduction for leading airlines by 2008. By 2020, they envisage that air traffic controllers will have been entirely replaced by the system, which will take all the decisions currently made by humans.

And what about costs? The system will first be used to upgrade the technology used at the air traffic control center in Swanwick, U.K. This center cost £623 million, £200 million over budget, and is often affected by computer crashes.

Is there a reason to think that this future computer system will be more reliable than the one it replaces? I have serious doubts. This reminds me another frightening story published last year by Salon.com, which stated that Microsoft wanted us to take planes without pilots by 2030.

Source: Elizabeth Day, Electronic Telegraph, August 24, 2003

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Computer forecasts that predict where and when crimes will happen by analysing past patterns should help police channel resources where they are needed most. The technique, now under trial in the US, could be available for routine use within a year.

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Scientists Warn That Visitors Are Loving Titanic to Death. The Titanic, assailed by rust as well as by hundreds of explorers and moviemakers, salvors and tourists, is rapidly falling apart. By William J. Broad. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

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Humans first arrived in America no earlier than 18,000 years ago, according to a new genetic study. The newly found mutation turns up a far different chronicle of the first Americans that suggested a very early occupation — at least 30,000 years ago. "This discovery places the DNA evidence more in line with archaeological data, which is characterized by a clear dearth of sites credibly dated beyond 14,000 years ago," Mark Seielstad, of Harvard School of Public Health, and colleagues wrote in the September issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics .

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Krypton clue to North Korean nuclear progress [New Scientist]

Suspicions that North Korea has begun to extract plutonium for making nuclear bombs have been heightened by US claims that it has detected a tell-tale radioactive gas.

But speculation that the country may have secretly built a second plutonium plant is being treated with caution by experts. "Recent experience suggests we should reserve judgement until we get proof," says Jon Wolfsthal, a former US weapons inspector in North Korea.

On Sunday, reports quoted US government officials as saying that elevated levels of krypton-85 had been discovered in the air above the North Korean border. This is a gas with a half-life of 10.7 years that is created along with plutonium by the fission of uranium fuel in a reactor. The fuel is reprocessed to separate out the plutonium by dissolving it in acid, but this also releases the krypton-85.

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Aquabots to Explore Ancient Wreck. Robert Ballard, of Titanic rediscovery fame, will explore a 1,500-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Turkey. His submarine robots will explore what may be one of the best-preserved vessels from the ancient world and upload what they 'see' to the Web. By Noah Shachtman. [Wired News]

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Satellites Could Spot Buried Treasures.

In this article, BBC News writes that two researchers in Israel have shown that "satellites could be used to spot ancient archaeological treasures buried underground."

Dan Blumberg and Julian Daniels, of the Ben Gurion University, told New Scientist magazine how they were able to detect flat squares of aluminium which they had buried at different depths in the sand of the Negev desert.

The pair used radar sensors on board an aircraft. "Now we have systematic proof. Buried objects can be detected from airborne systems," Dr Blumberg said.

They think they can add new sensors to satellites. Here is a picture of one European Remote Sensing (ERS) satellite from the European Space Agency (ESA), which might one day have archaeological missions.

This preview of the article of New Scientist -- to appear on July 12 -- contains more technical details.

So far, the researchers have only looked for objects buried up to 40 centimetres deep. But now that they have proved the technique works, they are planning studies with different types of object, buried deeper.

For their experiments, they use microwaves of the longest possible wavelength, called P-band. At the moment, satellites generally use microwaves with shorter wavelengths because the resolution is better. But P-band radiation can penetrate farther underground, so Blumberg hopes that adding it to satellite sensors will allow them to probe deeper, perhaps up to 9 metres down.

What are the possible applications of this new satellite imagery?

Blumberg hopes that as well as archaeological remains, the method will in time be used to find fossils and geological structures. There could also be military or humanitarian applications. The resolution would probably be too low to pick up individual landmines, but it could show underground buildings or pipes, or perhaps even mass graves.

But are there limitations? Yes, and pretty severe.

The main snag is that radar can only penetrate the ground in very dry areas, because liquid water tends to absorb the radiation. But Blumberg says that 15 per cent of the Earth's surface is dry enough for the method to work, including the Antarctic and deserts. The surfaces of some planets and moons fit the bill too, he points out. He hopes P-band radar might be used to reveal structures such as water channels below the dry, frozen surface of Mars.

Sources: BBC News, July 9, 2003; New Scientist, through EurekAlert!, July 9, 2003

[Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends]

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