The bank plans to use this system as the security foundation for all its own online offerings and those designed with business partners. One disadvantage of certificates is that, since they are typically client-based, all that is really being authenticated is a computer, not a user. In theory, anybody could be using that machine. This problem can be addressed by including a password request in the process or by using data taken from objects that are carried on the person of the user. An example of the latter is the token card, a special calculator that displays a constantly changing code that can be entered from any keyboard.
Smart cards are another solution, though they require swipe readers.
Neither technology is perfect for a wide range of extranet applications, since both are fairly expensive. A number of manufacturers suspect that extranet authentication will, at least in part, rest on biological attributes of the user such as voice, face, handwriting or fingerprint recognition. The advantage of such biometric measures is that, because all users have such attributes, they can be employed over large populations and in situations where keyboards and even PCs are not available. A representative vendor is Quintet Inc. in Cupertino, Calif., which sells a signature recognition package that works with PDA-type pads. One downside of biometric authenticators is their sensitivity to circumstances.