Fingerprint-recognition system helps a London school protect
network from abuse, writes Ross Bentley
A north London school is using fingerprint recognition software to
give pupils secure access to the school computer network.
Camden City Learning Centre (CLC) opened in October 2002 at South
Camden Community School. It serves more than 1,000 students, as
well as staff and the surrounding community.
A key issue for the CLC, conceived as part of the government's
Excellence in Cities initiative, was the provision of secure,
reliable network access for users, some of them as young as 11.
"Our remit was to use the latest technology to support learning in
the borough," says CLC manager Anne Casey. "As we are situated at
South Camden Community School, we provide an ideal modern education
environment for the students, who range in age from 11 to 18. The
students can log on to the school's network from the CLC, so they
have full access to their work while they are in the centre."
But with so many young people using the facility, it was important
that access to networked and online resources was carefully
controlled. Casey and her team needed to ensure that students' work
was protected from unauthorised users and that internet sessions
were monitored to prevent misuse.
Conventional security controls based on user names and passwords
had several drawbacks. Students forgot their passwords and had to
be given new ones, or failed to change them from the default
"PASSWORD" setting, which made life easy for anyone wanting to
steal their identities for unauthorised access.
CLC technical manager Colin Small was given the task of finding a
reliable alternative system that would be simple to administer.
He and Casey decided that Informer Systems' Sentrinet system, which
uses fingerprints to identify users, would offer the reliability
and protection needed. "It is easy to use and it enables us to
protect our users' information, and trace the source of all
activity on the network," says Small.
When new users enrol at the CLC, they are given user names and
their fingerprints are scanned electronically - a process that
takes just a few seconds. Sentrinet uses an algorithm to convert
this visual data into digital form. The algorithm measures the
distance between fixed points on the fingerprint - although a
child's finger will grow, the ratios between these points remain
the same, so the sensor will continue to recognise the fingerprint.
Once they are enrolled, students can access the system through any
of 120 keyboards equipped with fingerprint scanners. Between
September and December 2002, 1,200 people registered.
Small says the system is easy to manage and does not place heavy
demands on system resources.
"Most modern servers could host Sentrinet," he says. "It is very
low-maintenance, because all the information is centrally held and
once the fingerprints are captured there is no need to update
them."