Advanced authentication is already on the front burner for many law enforcement agencies. Under the most-recently published FBI CJIS Security guidelines, all systems accessing NCIC data must comply with new advanced user authentication requirements by September 30, 2010. These guidelines apply to access from both secure and remote locations, including office-based computers and in-vehicle laptops. Fingerprint-based biometrics is one of the FBI-approved advanced authentication methods.

There are two pieces of good news for BIO-key customers. First, you already have an advanced authentication solution for your mobile data users available at no additional cost. BIO-key has included the same WEB-key fingerprint biometric authentication component used by Pegasus directly within InfoServer. With the addition of widely available low cost fingerprint readers, your mobile data system meets FBI CJIS security requirements "out of the box."

The second piece of good news is that our fingerprint-based biometrics authentication software can also be used to secure departmental workstations as well as mobile devices. That gives you an enterprise-wide solution approach for authenticating all system users in every location. For more information on our advanced authentication solutions, as well as our rapid identification solutions for field use, contact Ben Hammel, Director of Identity Management.

 FIT Offer Ends March 31^st

 We're pleased with the number of customers who've already taken advantage of the special Field Interview Tracker (FIT) offer we announced last month - $0 (zero dollars) initial license cost with pre-payment of 3 years of maintenance and support. The pre-payment of just $27 per unit represents a total savings of 65% over the regular $50 purchase price and annual maintenance over the 3-year period. As we announced, you can now attach photos to the FIT record and automatically alert investigators and special task force members of a hit. There is no limit to the number of units you can purchase through this special offer, but the offer expires on March 31st.

Product Spotlight 

 

PocketCop 3.7.5, available soon for BlackBerry smartphones and supported Windows Mobile devices, includes some features that MobileCop users will recognize and appreciate:

·          Similar to MobileCop responses, a more descriptive subject line has been incorporated to help the user clearly identify the query type and source that generated the response.

·          New Mail functionality allows the user to check, compose, and manage MobileCop mail from the handheld device.

·          InfoExchange and Field Interview Tracker (FIT) responses are now supported.

In addition, BIO-key now supports PocketCop on Windows Mobile smartphone devices, including the Samsung BlackJack and Motorola Q, and on Windows Mobile devices with a VGA display.

MobileCop Navigator Enhancements

Our economical MobileCop Navigator in-vehicle mapping solution now provides the officer in the car with the mapped location of every other MobileCop Navigator-enabled unit. The officer can now see which units are closest should backup or other assistance be needed.

Customer Support Corner

Sometimes it takes creativity on both sides to solve a problem. The Canfield, OH Police Department is serving as a MobileCop host for neighboring departments, and Officer (and IT Manager) Ryan Davis recently had a problem implementing the Role-Based Security feature in InfoServer 7.0 so that activity logs and other agency-specific data weren't visible to other agencies - one of the key benefits of RBS. What makes this news is not that the customer had a problem, but the way he reported it to us. Ryan created a short video for BIO-key Customer Support with an audio commentary of the InfoServer Administrator screens showing how the logs were being populated by actual unit activity. (Click here to see an excerpt.)

The video helped Customer Support and Engineering quickly isolate and fix the problem. Ryan wrote back to say: "Thanks for fixing this so quickly.  Now I can have each department that hangs off of our server manage their own units and users, as well as get their own logs. I wish everyone's support department and engineers were as good as yours when responding to a customer problem.  I've been working with another support department for our cruiser video system and it takes two weeks just to get a phone call or email returned."

Looking for information you remember reading in a past Newsletter edition? You can click here or just go to "Newsletters" under "News and Events" on the BIO-key home page to access recent Law Enforcement Newsletters. We've also posted the most recent edition of our Biometrics Newsletter on the site.