Builders of London Olympics Site - Biometricaly Authenticated

All workers involved in building the London Olympic site for the 2010 games will go through a thorough biometric authentication process. The biometric screening will consist of a two-tier process, reports the Times, palm-print reading and face recognition. A total of 100,000 workers will have to comply with this security requirement until the completion of the Olympic site. If the system works, it might also be used for stadium ticket holders.

The biometric screening project is on the other hand already rising serious questions about the level of protection it can provide for private data:

The use of biometrics is part of a £354 million strategy to secure the 500-acre Olympic Park during its construction, which starts in June. But it has raised concerns about data protection among unions and civil liberty groups.

Alan Ritchie, general secretary of Ucatt, the main construction union, said: “We do not foresee a problem, providing the ODA [Olympic Delivery Authority] guarantee that the biometric data will not be passed on to any third parties and will be wiped once the project is complete.”

The methods employed to prevent data losses, theft or security breaches aren’t clear for now. I’d recommend a thorough analysis of what endpoint security and DLP solution will be chosen to make sure biometric data is not lost or stolen before its final deletion at the end of the project.