yeah, Bruce Schneier reported on the "typing fingerprint" previously http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/11/authenticating.html |
Not sure how accurate the PSYlock system is – they've apparently got an online demo at http://pc50461.uni-regensburg.de/ibi/de/leistungen/research/projekte/risk/psylock_english.htm but I can't get the link to load – but that presumably checks to see if it recognises the operator as the person it's supposed to be. Collecting a database of 'fingerprints' and then trying to collate them against each other would be a very different matter, particularly when so many of the samples would, presumably, be collected from two-finger typists entering only one or two words.
The technique was certainly used in WW2. A relative (now dead) was then a RAF morse operator, receiving signals from occupied France. She and her colleagues were certainly trained to recognise agents' morse signatures, and agents were, apparently, trained to vary their signature to indicate if they were transmitting under duress.
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Colbert is great as usual. He makes a good point by suggesting to search fake terms, even if it is a bit paranoid like a dude making fun of Jessica Simpson's hairstyles on gimps.de
Thank you for sharing this story with me! |
I wonder if Colbert realizes somebody already thought of that, and automated it with a Firefox extension... http://mrl.nyu.edu/~dhowe/TrackMeNot/ |