Eikon Digital Privacy Manager (USB fingerprint reader) - works with Firefox, Windows Vista, and now Mac

Other products by UPEK

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3.3 x 1.3 x 0.6 inches ; 0.3 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B000PELLGS
• Item model number: TCRE3C0BE6A2
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank

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  Electronics > Computers & Accessories > Computer Accessories > Memory Card Readers

• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 9, 2007

Product Description

Product Description

People are forced to use passwords to access their online personal accounts (banks, credit cards, email, etc.) and work-related applications (VPN, CRM, etc.). They even have passwords for logging into Windows and allowing tasks prompted by Vista's User Account Control (UAC). Requirements based on password length and use of capitalization, numbers and symbols result in countless different passwords that are hard to manage. How often do you rely on the "Forget password?" link to have your password emailed to you?Accessing your personal accounts is now as simple as swiping your finger. Now that you don't have to remember or enter passwords, you can create "strong" passwords (long and complex) that are replayed when you swipe your finger, making your personal accounts more secure.In order to cope with countless different passwords, people often write them down on sticky notes or in a spreadsheet. Doing so exposes your personal accounts to someone who walks by your computer, who steals your PC, or who mines for such data online. Using a common password offers thieves a one-stop-shop for the keys to your accounts, while using simple or obvious passwords such as your pet's name are susceptible to remote hacking.Nervous about using fingerprints? Relax. Your fingerprint image is not stored, only a handful of unique features called a "template" which are extracted from your fingerprint and cannot be used to reconstruct an image. Also, concerns related to fingerprints are exaggerated - people leave their fingerprints on objects everyday such as cell phones, drinking glasses, doorknobs, etc. The point is: a simple fingerprint image cannot be used to "spoof" or be "inserted" into a UPEK fingerprint reader.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly amazing product..., May 15, 2007

By	S. Fontejon (San Carlos, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This product is really cool. I used to always get my passwords confused because even though I tried to use just a few passwords (one for my bank and credit card accounts, one for stuff like webmail, and one for sites that don't matter), different sites have different requirements. Some require a number or symbol, some don't. So I used variations of a password, but I could never remember which sites I used the variations for. And then I'd either have to request to receive an email that reset my password, or sometimes I'd even get locked out and then have to call customer service. Arghhh!

It takes a little practice to learn how to swipe your finger, but once you get it the Eikon always recognized me and got me into my password protected websites in a flash. I tested to see if my friends could get in... it wasn't scientific, but it was comforting to know they couldn't. There is a one-time "registration" of all your accounts, but once that's set up there's no looking back. I counted over 50 websites with passwords that I don't have to worry about anymore!

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Macintosh users - , January 31, 2008

By	D. R. L. F. (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

I received the fingerprint reader from UPEK as a gift at Christmas. I am running a Mac Powerbook 17" with 10.4.10. Please note that the software for the Mac is BETA. OK, so I gave it a go and it read my fingerprints just fine. No problem 'registering'. From there onward it did not work. So I emailed the manufacturer.

To my joy and satisfaction they replied with a detailed series of fixes. Many of them involved getting it on a PC, so that was not an option. After a while of testing (we have been Apple Developers for many years), it just did not work.

Tech support at UPEK was emailing me daily, wanting to know if it worked, what the issue(s) were, etc. They were truly on top of the situation. When we realized that it might have been a hardware issue they said they would send me one in the mail.

A few days later I asked them if they had sent it. Within an hour I received a courteous and amazing letter from tech support saying that they apologized (how many manufacturers every say that?) and they would send me TWO units next day delivery.

The two units came and work just fine. Again, the Mac software is not what the PC software is, but hopefully that will be up to snuff soon.

Kudos to UPEK and their team, especially Brian! It means more to me to have someone listening and actively working with me, especially on something which is relatively inexpensive, than anything else.

April, 2008 - The Mac software was just released. This should improve functionality greatly!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just do not cut your finger off, March 28, 2008

By	John C. Huntington (Cols., OH USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As long as you do not trim the tip off of your scanned finger while slicing onions or cut if off in the wood-shop, this is a great security device! Having a very complicated data storage system (6Tb) of irreplaceable images on RAID 1 and my main office machine in a very public space by choice, there has been easy access to my computer by anybody who thought they needed it. No more; I absolutely love this simple biometric scanner. It was totally easy to install (do read the directions). It works like a key lock but no key to loose. And, because it scans my fingerprint only, there will be no opportunistic quick access to my system. If someone wants to steal any of it they are going to have to work (hard) at it.