City Upgrades Computer Security

The city of Glendale, CA has replaced its employees' password protection system with fingerprint scanners that use biometrics, once considered a space-age technology.

1 minute read

October 19, 2001, 1:00 PM PDT

By Christian Madera @http://www.twitter.com/cpmadera


"Biometrics, the analysis of physical features such as eye, face, and finger characteristics, might seem an extreme form of access control for city employees, but the driving factor was efficiency. Both the city's IT department and its approximately 2,000 employees had struggled to maintain up-to-date and secure password protection. "We struggled, users struggled, and independent auditors were pressing us to change our passwords at more frequent intervals," says Scott Harmon, assistant director of information services with the City of Glendale."

Thanks to Christian Peralta

Friday, October 19, 2001 in CNET News

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