In The Boardroom™ With...

Mr. Michael Harris
Chief Technology Officer
Precise Biometrics
www.precisebiometrics.com

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Thank you for joining us today, Michael. One will read on PreciseBiometrics.com that "our vision is to be the world-leading provider of secure authentication and access, leveraging smart cards and biometrics for multi-factor authentication optimized for desktop, mobile, and embedded consumer platforms. By making strong authentication easy to implement and use, we help protect network resources and secure communications across the globally connected world." Before drilling down into Precise Biometrics solutions, please give us a brief company history and please tell us about your background.

Michael Harris: I joined Precise Biometrics in 2002 after long and successful engagements with two other large biometric companies. What attracted me to Precise then remains strong today: dedication to using biometrics and smart cards for increased security while making it easy and uncomplicated for the user. It is biometrics as it should be — a tool to better identification and security without encumbering the user.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Precise Biometrics' case studies speak volumes about your successful business model, please give us an overview of the solutions Precise Biometrics brings to market.

Michael Harris: Our model is rather simple and straightforward - to supply toolkits, algorithms and readers that provide our partners with the ability to develop and deploy strong authentication solutions in an easy way. We strive to offer open source or standardized components that encourages wide adoption through cross-platform, multi-OS, and interoperable solutions.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: With over 160 million licenses in the marketplace today, that is a truly impressive track record! May we have an update regarding your success story with the U.S. Department of State?

Michael Harris: The Department of State is only one of several top-tier government agencies using our desktop solutions for logical access along with the HSPD-12 and PIV mandates. Organizations like NASA, FAA, and others use our desktop readers for PIV enrollment or verification. At the Department of State, they took our technology further by implementing Precise Match-on-Card (MOC) with PKI for secure authentication. With our technology deployed across 60,000 desktops, they simplify the deployment and use of high-security practices and minimize user frustration and help desk calls. According to their own estimates they save between 7 and 10 million dollars per year with our solution.

Many of our larger deployments are within national identity cards where we have teamed with the leading smart card providers to offer our proprietary Match-on-Card algorithms. Our MOC solution is then used by the governments as a secure and private means to identifying card holders.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: And, we also read with great interest in your recent Press Release regarding the news that, "Precise Biometrics Receives first Tactivo™ Order from one of the World's Largest Automobile Manufacturers." Can you tell us more about the significance with this particular "win"?

Michael Harris: When we engaged with the automobile manufacturer, we learned that they were using smartcards for desktop logical access. The automobile manufacturer had developed several applications used to encrypt documents that can be stored securely on these mobile devices. The procurement of Tactivo enables the company to leverage their existing credentials and deploy a secure solution to transition from desktop to mobile devices, and utilize both traditional and cloud-based remote services to provide their employees access to resources and data in a secured and highly convenient way.

With the company considering other ways Tactivo can be utilized, such as secure browsing and messaging, we are expecting this new relationship to have significant growth potential as the deployment of Tactivo.

We have secured our position as the leading provider for Match-on-Card within national identity cards and the deployment of desktop readers for government logical access. As enterprises, such as this leading automobile manufacturer, are now migrating from desktops to mobile, we are ready to support them with our Tactivo product line. Using Tactivo enables the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) initiative to become a reality as it fully supports the same security infrastructures deployed across desktops around the world. We are truly bridging the gap between corporate and enterprise IT security rules and the ease of use the user community expects.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Are there any particular additional "wins" or success stories you would like to discuss?

Michael Harris: We are starting pilot projects for Tactivo within several U.S. federal agencies. The federal government faces the same challenges regarding the use of mobile devices as do commercial workplaces: employees want to use their own smart phones and tablets, and authentication capabilities on these devices don't support the security policies that were established for desktop use. These agencies are proactively testing Tactivo as it provides the ability to authenticate using the federal smart card credentials. Our breakthrough solution will enable the migration to mobile devices while preserving the necessary security and authentication policies that are required by HSPD-12 (Homeland Security Presidential Directive). Because the mandate covers all federal employees, we expect other agencies will also consider deploying Tactivo after seeing the success of these first pilot programs.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: We understand that mobile security is a huge market opportunity for Precise Biometrics and congratulations on the partnership with Thursby Software in this regard. Care to elaborate?

Michael Harris: As mentioned previously, our model depends on strong partners and we have teamed with the leaders in mobility solutions to leverage our core technologies. A recent example is our partnership with Thursby where together with our Tactivo and their PKard product we are able to jointly offer a fully secure, PKI-supported, smart card and biometric-enabled Web browsing and email solution. The strength of this lies in the fact that now, in a simple way, the users of mobile devices can comply with government and enterprise mandated security rules.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Any other new products and solutions you would like to discuss?

Michael Harris: Precise Biometrics has several patents and innovations that could be applied in upcoming areas like mobile payments with NFC and EMV. Our core technologies for capturing and matching biometrics integrate easily within the mobile SIM and chip technologies to secure transactions, reduce fraud, and prevent spoofing.

With the new globally connected world we see a growing need for our technology across multiple platforms. This year we will announce new solutions beyond the Apple products to support other platforms like Android and Windows 8.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: What are your target markets and what is your perspective on the market drivers for Precise Biometrics solutions in these challenging economic times?

Michael Harris: Our long history is securely seated within the government smart card and biometric security realm. We will continue to build out these markets with our mobile solutions. At the same time we are seeing much greater interest and adoption in our mobile phone and tablet solutions within healthcare and financial sectors. The ability for users to bring their own devices and comply with corporate security rules is essential in today's environments. The inclusion of the biometric allows for simplified adoption and maintains the user's identity and privacy to a much greater level than available through passwords or tokens alone.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: What resources and support are available for end-users and the trade at PreciseBiometrics.com?

Michael Harris: With our push beyond government we identified the need for more transparency towards our solutions and an increase in end-user support and applications. For this initiative we introduced new websites: Precisebiometrics.com and idApps.com. The latter is a community portal for our Tactivo and app solutions. Partners, developers, and app providers have a full resource kit and peer developer forum available. Users can purchase Tactivo directly online or research apps that may be used with our solutions.

SecuritySolutionsWatch.com: Thanks again for joining us today, Michael. Are there any other subjects you would like to discuss?

Michael Harris: Throughout our evolution from government token and desktop security to our latest mobile solutions we have noted a strong need for interoperability, standards compliance, ease of use, and full solution suites. Our latest products maintain these key components while we continue to build out solutions for very specific use cases. The concept and need for security is understood but where we really feel we excel is by applying these practices in a straightforward way that integrates to the user experience and retains the user's privacy. It is our belief that everyone has the right to maintain their identity and privacy, that it should be simple to implement and use, and that it should be available across all of their connected devices.