Vein matching

Vein matching, also called vascular technology,[1] is a technique of biometric identification through the analysis of the patterns of blood vessels visible from the surface of the skin.

[2] Though used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency,[3] this method of identification is still in development and has not yet been universally adopted by crime labs as it is not considered as reliable as more established techniques, such as fingerprinting.

People generally are uncomfortable exposing their eyes to an unfamiliar source of light, and retinal scanners are more difficult to install than vascular scanning equipment, since variations in angle of height and face in relation to the device must be accounted for.

[6] Joe Rice, an automation controls engineer at Kodak's Annesley factory, invented vein pattern recognition in the early 1980s in response to his bank cards and identity being stolen.

Computer security expert Bruce Schneier stated that a key advantage of vein patterns for biometric identification is the lack of a known method of forging a usable "dummy", as is possible with fingerprints.

[14] To obtain the pattern for the database record, an individual inserts a finger into an attester terminal containing a near-infrared light-emitting diode (LED) light and a monochrome charge-coupled device (CCD) camera.

[17] Fujitsu developed a version that does not require direct physical contact with the vein scanner for improved hygiene in the use of electronic point of sale devices.

According to a 31,000-word investigative report published in January 2011 by Georgetown University faculty and students,[23][24][25][26][27] U.S. federal investigators used photos from the video recording of the beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl to match the veins on the visible areas of the perpetrator to that of captured al-Qaeda operative Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, notably a "bulging vein" running across his hand.

[3] Officials were concerned that his confession, which had been obtained through torture (namely waterboarding), would not hold up in court and used vein matching evidence to bolster their case.

[2] Some US hospitals, such as NYU Langone Medical Center, use a vein matching system called Imprivata PatientSecure, primarily to reduce errors.

[29] However, news reports on the use of vein matching for Mr. Pearl's murderer quote experts who say "that its reliability as a forensic identification tool is unproven.