Natural User Authentication Methods in XR Project Announcement
Several natural user authentication methods that do not require users to perform specific actions (typing passwords, swiping ID cards) but instead occur in the background seamlessly, in a variety of XR equipment will be evaluated on real users.
Stay tuned for more information on the specific technologies for this project that will benefit our first responders when they use XR.
This project is financed with a grant from NIST’s PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH DIVISION and is awarded to CyberBytes Foundation (CBF) and XRSI jointly.
The Cyber Bytes Foundation (CBF), located at the Quantico Cyber Hub (QCH), was recently awarded a $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Science and Technology (NIST) to help create natural authentication methods for first responders using Augmented Reality (AR) systems.
Extended Reality (XR) technologies (virtual reality, mixed reality, and augmented reality) can be valuable tools to Public Safety Organizations (PSOs) in doing their jobs and accomplishing their missions. AR in particular has the potential to relieve first responders of having to remove their focus from the situation at hand to access information vital to doing their jobs. Given the sensitive data accessed and uniquely challenging environments that first responders operate in, these systems need to be secured.
“Augmented Reality is a technology that will fundamentally change the way we interact with data and First Responders, in particular, can really benefit from this new interaction,” says Joel Scharlat, Director of Operations for Cyber Bytes Foundation and Principle Investigator on this grant. “Law enforcement can view criminal history, EMS technicians can view a patient’s health information at a scene, and firefighters can consult real-time maps of building occupancy when responding to a building fire – all hands-free. We’re excited to be working with NIST on this grant and start driving the conversation on the security of immersive technologies.”
CBF has partnered with XR Safety Initiative (XRSI), a global non-profit organization focused on promoting privacy, security, and ethics in the XR domain. XRSI is at the forefront of this effort and is uniquely positioned to provide impartial, practical information about XR-related risks to individuals, corporations, universities, government agencies, and other organizations.
Read the press release on Cyber Bytes Foundation’s website.