By Hannah Mason, Assistant Editor
On Monday, Oct. 27, a video produced by WLU-TV 14 was featured on the Tech Crowd segment of CNBC’s technology news destination, Squawk Alley.
The video profiled a project called SecureSelfies. SecureSelfies is a new brand of protection technology for smartphones and other devices, developed by West Virginia-based start-up Confirmix, a company that develops enterprise and consumer identity authentication products. The CBNC Squawk Alley Tech Crowd segment pitted SecureSelfies against another up-and-coming brand of security technology called Cyber Ghost for the title of Tech Crowd leader of the week. CNBC announced on Friday, Oct. 31 that SecureSelfies won, with 68.22% of the vote from the online poll.
Confirmix worked with the WLU Research Corporation to arrange the SecureSelfies video production by West Liberty University Television. West Liberty staff, faculty, and students were in charge of all aspects of filming, creating, and acting in the video. “I applaud the efforts of Jim Shaffer from the WLU Research Corporation, Theresa Gretchen and Jared Thompson from WLU-TV 14, and our students for their fine work in demonstrating the West Liberty University core values. We are pleased that the work we are doing with the SecureSelfies Kickstarter project is receiving national attention,” said WLU President Robin C. Capehart in a press release. SecureSelfies is a project on the website Kickstarter, meaning that it will be funded to become a product on the market if the fundraising goal of at least $50,000 is pledged by Dec. 14.
SecureSelfies employs biometric, facial recognition technology developed in WVU’s Multispectral Imagery Lab to protect photos, videos, files, and apps on smartphones and other computer devices. Users simply download the SecureSelfies app and take at least one selfie to store onto the app. The app uses the phone’s camera to recognize the face of whoever is then trying to unlock the phone, and matches it against the selfies stored into the system. If someone other than you tries to unlock your phone, their access will be denied. SmartSelfies even recognizes photographs versus actual people, so user files are further protected against intruders.
For more information about SecureSelfies and to view the WLU TV-14 video, visit secureselfies.com. To learn more about the SecureSelfies Kickstarter project, go to their kickstarter page. .
