[holsteinson]

APC sells their fingerprint sensor/software bundle for US$30 (there are 7 other suppliers for PC under US$40) while the only one I found compatible with my Mac OS X is a SONY at US$160!!

Anyone knows who sells this password fingerprint sensor for mac cheap?

[tooki]

Considering that fingerprint sensors can be defeated with technology as simple as candy (yes, candy), sticky tape, or your breath, I'm not sure I'd be too concerned -- passwords are more secure if they're not lost/shared.

tooki

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Like tooki said they are very insecure, more of a showoff thing than security.

Why do you want something like this anyway?

[rm199]

Real fingerprint scanners are not fooled by gummi bears; in general it is not accurate to describe fingerprint scanners as 'very insecure'

Even the poor scanners increase security if used as part of a two factor authentication system

[ghporter]

rm199, unfortunately the "good ones" are far less available and less in the public eye than the run of the mill "gummi says you're you!" devices. And it's hard for the run of the mill consumer to tell the difference.

However, there ARE good biometric devices, some of which are USB. And IBM's built in biometric sensor is fantastic-but then IBM is behind it. If you need this sort of thing, you have to do your homework, something that's not easy in this part of the market.

[f1000]

Originally Posted by tooki

Considering that fingerprint sensors can be defeated with technology as simple as candy (yes, candy), sticky tape, or your breath, I'm not sure I'd be too concerned -- passwords are more secure if they're not lost/shared.

tooki

There's a new type of fingerprint scanner found on some iPAQs that involves swiping a finger across a scanning window. It's harder to defeat such a scanner because there is no residual fingerprint left on the scanning window.

[holsteinson]

the fingerprint sensor marker in the laptop market is growing exponentially so maybe APPLE being the "innovator" should have started adopting it in all PB and IB since last year ? It would sure help in case it is stolen or lost !! The advances in biometric are huge

specially if coupled with a written password ... [FONT=Arial Black]so nobody has a good USB fingerprint sensor for my PB 17?[/FONT]

Originally Posted by f1000

There's a new type of fingerprint scanner found on some iPAQs that involves swiping a finger across a scanning window. It's harder to defeat such a scanner because there is no residual fingerprint left on the scanning window.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Scanner or not somebody can just boot your computer with OS9 and get all your files.

[f1000]

Originally Posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker

Scanner or not somebody can just boot your computer with OS9 and get all your files.

FileVault, anyone?