WALL, N.J., June 29, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BIO-key International, Inc. (OTCBB:BKYI), a global leader in finger biometric identification technology solutions, today expressed its continued concerns regarding the epidemic of security breaches affecting commercial companies and government agencies.
The past week, NATO began an investigation into a potential data breach at one of its subsidiaries, as hackers may have penetrated the organizations e-Bookstore. In California, Northwest Community Credit Union canceled customers debit cards when their branch was breached, causing havoc for customers seeking to make purchases. Over 1,000 NCCU customer accounts were affected. Citigroup says about thirty-four hundred customers lost nearly three million dollars as a result of a breach to their credit card information in May.
Infragard, an association of businesses, academic institutions, state and local law enforcement agencies, and other participants dedicated to sharing information and intelligence to prevent hostile acts against the United States, released the following statement on Friday June 24th, "It is obvious that this group of renegade hackers has targeted Infragard as well as other high profile companies and agencies and there is currently no indication that this group will cease with the Atlanta and Connecticut intrusions."
Additionally, a survey released by the Ponemon Institute, providers of independent research on privacy, data protection and information security policy, and Juniper Networks stated that ninety percent of organizations have sustained at least one data breach in the past year. "Some of the results of the Ponemon/Juniper survey aligned with the results of a survey we had attached to a recent press release. The survey found that 52% of the breaches were caused by insiders and that was right in line with our survey," explained Scott Mahnken, VP Marketing, BIO-key International.
"We simply can't wait any longer to take action. It's obvious that the hackers are one step ahead of traditional security measures. Technology has always provided a solution. Biometric technology from BIO-key combined with the technology solutions offered by our Business Partners and Integrators can curb this epidemic. BIO-key understands that many organizations are simply overwhelmed right now while others are unsure how biometrics can help harden their current security and identification solutions. That is why we are taking a leadership role to fight the cause. Effective immediately, we will offer to work with any qualified commercial or government enterprise that is seeking to test the capabilities of biometrics in an attempt to upgrade security," proclaimed Mike DePasquale, CEO, BIO-key International. "Since we currently support or have integrations into the most popular security infrastructures used by most large and mid-sized companies, we can quickly demonstrate the benefits of strong authentication using biometrics for anyone interested in trying it," added DePasquale.
Please contact the company directly at 1-866-846-2594 or visit us at http://www.bio-key.com to learn how your company or organization can participate in a pilot program.
About BIO-key
BIO-key International, Inc., headquartered in Wall, New Jersey, develops and delivers advanced identification solutions to commercial and government enterprises, integrators, and custom application developers. BIO-key's award winning, high performance, scalable, cost-effective and easy-to-deploy biometric finger identification technology accurately identifies and authenticates users of wireless and enterprise applications. Our solutions are used in local embedded OEM products as well as some of the world's largest identification deployments to improve security, guarantee identity, and help reduce identity theft. BIO-key's technology is offered directly or by market leading partners around the world. (http://www.bio-key.com)
BIO-key Safe Harbor Statement
Certain statements contained in this press release may be construed as "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act"). The words "estimate," "project," "intends," "expects," "anticipates," "believes" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management pursuant to the "safe-harbor" provisions of the Act. These statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected on the basis of these statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, our history of losses and limited revenue, our ability to develop new products and evolve existing ones, the impact on our business of the recent financial crisis in the global capital markets and negative global economic trends, and our ability to attract and retain key personnel. For a more complete description of these and other risk factors that may affect the future performance of BIO-key International, Inc., see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company also undertakes no obligation to disclose any revision to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.