PixelPin in the Telegraph – again!

Here’s a snippet from the paper and you can read the full article here.

PixelPin pitches at BathSPARK for Startups

On the 11th June Geoff represented PixelPin in the South West by pitching at BathSPARK for Startups. Geoff said there was a ‘good buzz’ about the event, with lots of interesting businesses pitching and some good networking opportunities.

You can find out more about BathSPARK here.

Geoff on stage, image: http://www.meetup.com/BathSpark/photos/15453912/246946762/?photoAlbumId=15453912&photoId=246946762

The competition heats up

At the beginning of the month we launched our very first Picture Perfect competition. The challenge is to find the ultimate PixelPin picture: a perfect balance between a picture that’s nice to look at and secure enough to use as a PixelPin, with lots of interesting content. We’ve seen entries rolling in over the past fortnight and the competition is starting to heat up on Facebook! There are some exciting entries, so check out our Facebook page and get voting for your favourite! There’s also still time to enter to win an amazing £50 voucher from Blurb books.

Check out the competition here

We need your feedback

All of this week we’ve been collecting metrics through our new Friends and Family survey site – if you’ve got a little time over the weekend we’d really appreciate your feedback!

Take me to the survey site

A Wayra reunion!

On Thursday we went back to Wayra for a ‘Wayra Mentor Networking Event’ (I think it used to be known as ‘Thirsty Thursdays!’) – it was great to catch up with old friends and meet some of the new teams. As usual Wayra didn’t fail to impress by providing ample beers and burritos for the evening, thanks for having us!

Image: https://twitter.com/WayraUK/media/grid

Life at Tech Hub

We’re really enjoying being at Tech Hub, there’s a great buzz to the place and always plenty of exciting things going on. This week Sarah and Louise attended ‘The 5 Laws of Brand Design’ – a really interesting talk from Jim Prior, CEO of one of the world’s most creatively awarded brand consultancies, The Partners.

Finally, to finish off a fantastic week – Brian had his first cup of tea in over 13 years! We’re not sure how much he enjoyed it but he looks reasonably happy (?) to us!

Our highest priorities for our users are privacy and security .The first (and most important) step in the process is to choose the right picture. It will determine how likely you are to remember your Passpoints and how strongly you’ll be protected.

To enter:
We’re setting you the challenge to send us your perfect PixelPin. This should be a photograph you’ve taken or a picture you’ve created (think outside of the box: drawings, doodles, paintings, collages). We’re looking for an image with lots of interesting content; memorable yet secure.

Follow this link. Simply ‘Like’ our Facebook page and send us your picture in a Facebook message or you can email it to louise@pixelpin.co.uk We’ll then post your picture in the competition album & the picture with the most ‘Likes’ at the end of the month will win a £50 Blurb voucher.

Digital Shoreditch

On Monday Brian spoke on the main stage at Digital Shoreditch as part of the TSB Launchpad Programme

There was a fantastic exhibition in the basement of the town hall

An installation of mirrors & cameras – interesting & very easy to get lost in!

Raptor Demo Night

On Tuesday CISCO presented the Raptor programme demo night in North Greenwich – a night of innovation and great views

The view from level 10

Digital Threats Conference

Brian attended the Marsh Digital Threats Conference in Brighton this week. Speakers included Former Director General of Britain’s Security Service MI5, Barroness Eliza Manningham-Buller and the former Head of the MoD Cyber Security Major General Johnathan Shaw.

See the website here

It was an immensely interesting conference where Brian was also able to demonstrate PixelPin to large Brands and eCommerce companies.

However it was not all work and no play, as AIG provided the entertainment in the form of comedy Opera made up on the spot by some very talented singers.

Amazing views of the city from the top

The team!

PixelPin in The Sunday Telegraph

On Sunday 28th April 2013 PixelPin featured in the Sunday Telegraph Ingenious Britain supplement:

And on Monday 29th April we featured in The Metro, Geoff discussed a future beyond passwords with PixelPin:

Read the full article here

Press Release

‘It’s been a long wait, but the fourth edition of Ingenious Britain hits a newsagent’s near you on Sunday, April 28^th, tucked snugly in the warm confines of the Sunday Telegraph. And believe us, it’s looking like an veritable encyclopedia of small business knowledge, advice and information.

The state of the British business environment is undergoing a huge shift at present. Greater numbers of small businesses are being refused bank loans despite being more than creditworthy, meaning that new sources of finance such as invoice trading and crowdfunding are taking to the fore, empowering not only those small businesses, but allowing anyone to be an investor in a company. Start-up accelerators are popping up all over the UK, offering small businesses and start-ups the ability to inject experience, capital and contacts to galvanise their prospects. New technologies such as cloud computing, smartphones and tablets are allowing small businesses in particular to be more flexible, whilst co-working spaces are encouraging business-to-business interaction and the sharing of expertise. Social media is revolutionising marketing and the opportunities offered to SMEs to reach a huge audience without the corresponding financial input.

All this combined together is creating something very exciting. Ingenious Britain give you the ‘New Business Normal’. And this new normal is the focus of this edition. There’s a whole host of brilliant articles covering everything from the benefits of crowdfunding for your small business to how you can make the most of a business accelerator.

Ingenious Britain founder, Mark Moore, identifies: “The new edition of the magazine looks at the formation and implications of a new small business landscape. That landscape enables small businesses to raise finance and establish much better cash flow without having to guarantee the house and the family jewels to the bank.

We’re calling the landscape ‘the New Business Normal’ and that encompasses some really interesting new services such as invoice trading and crowd funding, which you can find out more about in the upcoming issue.”

It will have the usual mix of political commentary and insight on small businesses, well-known entrepreneurs providing advice, ingenious small businesses telling Ingenious Britain about their remarkable business journeys, and larger companies offering transferrable tips you can implement within your own enterprises over 80 pages of small business good stuff.

Here’s what to expect from the next edition of Ingenious Britain:

• Interviews with five government ministers, including Secretary of State for Business Vince Cable, Minister of State for Business and Enterprise Michael Fallon, Minister for Pensions Steve Webb, UK Trade and Investment Minister Lord Green, and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Intellectual Property Lord Younger.
• Ex-Dragon, Chairman of Startup Loans UK, and entrepreneurial behemoth James Caan explains to us how crowdfunding is helping both entrepreneurs and investors to think outside the box.
• We talk to Sir Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project, about how the Eden Project can become a template for the wider business community to become more socially aware.
• Julie Meyer, founder of Entrepreneur County and CEO of Ariadne Capital talks about how large corporates must seek out emerging entrepreneurs in order to capture the next disruptive technology.
• Our new cover stars Platform Black give us the lowdown on the new short-term lending phenomenon, Invoice Trading, and their business journey.
• We talk finance, funding and where the money is going for SMEs with the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).
• In the wake of the soaring petrol prices, we talk fuel with Shell.
• Dragons’ Den vanquisher Neil Westwood of Magic Whiteboard, tells of his own aspirations to be a mini-dragon in the wake of his success.

• We meet Pixelpin, an innovative software firm that is looking to transform the way we authenticate ourselves online by replacing passwords with pictures.

• Our previous cover-stars Muddy Boots Foods explore the ins and outs of customer trust in the wake of the horsemeat scandal.
• We talk to iZettle, an innovative technology aiming to democratise the payments industry, allowing small and independent traders to process card transactions by harnessing mobile capabilities.
• Rockstar detail the benefits and advantages mentorship can offer small businesses.
• We talk to Jayne Hobin-Wright of Slim N Saucy, about the trials and tribulations of a produce start-up and playing with the supermarkets.
• The chance for YOU and YOUR BUSINESS to feature in the next edition of Ingenious Britain!

Plus – loads more small business stories, advice and support from a huge selection of larger businesses too.

In the build-up to the new magazine, there will be a whole host of interactive events across Ingenious Britain’s social media platforms designed to help small businesses to get to grips with some of the topics covered in the magazine, so keep an eye out on www.ingeniousbritain.biz or their social networks for more information.

So, whether you’re a sole trader or employing 50 people; a start-up or long-established family business; farmer or tech start-up, there’s something for everyone in the upcoming issue. Get yourselves down to your newsagent’s, pick up a Telegraph and don’t plan anything else for that Sunday.’

# # # Press release ends # # #

Ingenious Britain is a small business campaign, dedicated to supporting, advising and providing a voice for British small businesses. For more information about who we are and what we stand for, visit us at www.ingeniousbritain.biz , or join one of our many social platforms.

Twitter: @ingeniousbrit, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ingenious.Britain, LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/2485712?trk=tyah, or Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/106575312945862060568/106575312945862060568/posts.

Contact for further information:

James Day

Social Media Manager, Ingenious Britain

237 Regents Park Road, London, N3 3LF

0203 540 0555

James.day@inteligisgroup.com

In just four days we leapt from 60% of our total to the full 100%, making PixelPin the first startup to raise the full £150,000 on the crowd funding site Seedrs. Seedrs has been operating for eight and a half months and has now funded 18 startups, making them the fastest-growing equity crowdfunding platform in Europe. We’ve been overwhelmed by the support for PixelPin and the levels of interest we’ve received, reaching our total in just over a month with 193 investors on board.

Image: Seedrs

Dale Murray presenting the award to Geoff & Sarah (Image: https://www.innovateuk2013.co.uk/mediagallery/images/7)

Thanks to the UKTI & TSB, last week we were lucky enough to exhibit at Innovate UK, the UK’s leading multi-sector innovation trade event for business. PixelPin had a stand right in the centre of the London Business Design Centre which saw a lot of footfall throughout the event. We met some very interesting people & had some exciting and productive conversations.

Brian was also invited to speak on the panel at the Investor Breakfast hosted by the TSB alongside Lord Deighton.

To top it all off, PixelPin won the award for Most Innovative Product as voted for by our peers! Big congratulations also go to Snap Fashion for winning the Most Innovative Process award.

Spot PixelPin amongst the crowd? (Image: https://www.innovateuk2013.co.uk/mediagallery/images/7)

Geoff doing his thing

PixelPin replaces passwords with, erm….burgers 

Proud

Back in October 2012 our CEO and founder, Brian Taylor, pitched at Mobile Monday London and won PixelPin a highly-coveted spot on the UKTI Great Britain Stand at Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona. Having got back from Barcelona just over a week ago here is our report covering our first (and hopefully not last!) MWC experience.

The UKTI Great Britain stand was the perfect place for us to showcase PixelPin. The stand was split across two levels: a buzzing ground floor area exhibiting 9 of the most exciting and diverse technology companies in the UK, and an upper level reserved for meetings (and coffee!).

As first time visitors to Mobile World Congress we certainly weren’t disappointed. During all four days of the congress the UKTI stand saw heavy footfall from visitors from around the world. Needless to say, we met some very interesting people and had some exciting and productive conversations with many to follow up back in London. There was a lot of interest in PixelPin; one visitor even claimed we had ‘the most creative idea in the whole of MWC’ which was great to hear in an event exhibiting thousands of companies from across the globe.

As well as manning the stand we had a busy agenda of events to attend throughout the week, including several organised by Heroes of the Mobile Fringe and UKTI. Our COO, Geoff Anderson, pitched at Innovation on the Fringe on Sunday 24th and delivered a talk ‘Making security usable for devices: access control for everyone’ as part of the UKTI Seminar programme during the week. PixelPin also did very well securing second place at TechCrunch Barcelona – well done Brian!

PIXELPIN IN THE PRESS

We had considerable interest from the press throughout the week too – highlights include podcasts, an article on LSN Global, a top mention in UK Minister for Culture Ed Vaizey’s report on MWC, a feature in the Metro back in the UK and an interview with BBC Radio 1, to name but a few.

In true Spanish style, for every day of networking, pitching and seminars at MWC there was an evening of networking, pitching and well…drinking to match. After-show highlights for us included the UKTI networking event, a buzzing Apps Fiesta party held by MagicSolver (delicious food and cocktails all round, thanks guys) the Swedish Beers event and the packed MLove party at the end of the week. We should also probably mention our favourite bar, Paris Taxi, which provided us with all the beer we could drink and all the rugby & football we could watch. Its location was also tip-top – right underneath our apartment.

All in all we had a fantastic time at MWC13 and the experience was invaluable to PixelPin. We would like thank MoMoLo, UKTI and ICTKTN for providing us with such a great opportunity.

When in Barcelona!  

 The team on the stand

 Fira Gran Via

No expense spared on the Firefox stand

Geoff being interviewed for Radio 1 

 Brian pitching at TechCrunch, with a little help from Polly!

Authentication is how something/somebody verifies that you are who you say you are.

If there was a web application that only required a username, it wouldn’t be much of a verification because anyone could type in the same name and pretend to be someone else. We could say that would be “very weak authentication”.

The first way we can ensure that authentication is strong (or the “first factor” – something you know) would be to ask the user for something that they, and only they, know such as a password. Theoretically, if only you know your password then it is not enough to know someone’s name in order to log into a system.

We will re-visit passwords later but the obvious problem is that it is in fact possible to gain someone else’s password. They might tell you, they might write it down somewhere or it could be obtained by social engineering (emails offering various things in return for entering your login details). The other issue is that it is often impossible to know that your password has been stolen until it is used to break into an account or suchlike. Passwords are “free to copy” which is a real weakness.

Another, 2nd factor we can add to authentication is “something you have“. Often used in conjunction with your username and password, this might be a hardware token that generates numbers which appear random to the user but which can be verified by the system. Immediately, the cost of our authentication is rising with hardware devices but it is not a bad supplement to authentication. The chance of someone knowing your username, password and being able to obtain your hardware token before you notice and have it blocked are of course much lower than a simple password theft. There are social problems however. What if it is lost or stolen? How quickly can I get a replacement and will I be able to access potentially essential services in the meantime? How much will it cost to implement and what if I am Mr Facebook or Mr Google and I support millions of people, largely for free? Can I afford 500 million hardware tokens and will people simply stop using my service because of the hassle?

For the most secure systems, 2-factor authentication is not seen as secure enough. It is feasible that someone could steal, or perhaps even borrow (with permission) their friend’s hardware token and username/password. Ultimately, 2-factor authentication is transferable which means it does not ultimately prove that the person logging on is who they claim to be.

A 3rd factor that is available in various styles is “something you are“, in other words, biometrics that are either hard or impossible to fake and which, at least on paper, are a foolproof way to authenticate someone in a way that means it cannot be transferred. Ignoring the fact that we might be able to chop certain things off of people, there are issues related to this type of authentication that cannot currently be solved (and perhaps never will be). Currently, the technology is expensive, both to buy but also to roll-out and maintain. How much is an iris scanner if it were to be fitted to every ATM machine for example? There are physical problems in that someone who, for example, has no hands cannot use a fingerprint reader so will they be excluded or will they be allowed a weaker authentication which kind of defeats the point of the 3rd factor authentication. There is a sociological issue in that people are not keen to shine things in their eyes or offer their physical identity to a machine. Alos, how will the information be secured? In the light of some major corporate data breaches, it is obvious that most companies are incapable, not only of securing the most important data but also carrying out even basic good-practices like correctly encrypting passwords in their databases? How then can I tell where the information is, where it might end up in the future, what government databases it might end up on permanently? How can I be sure that the data will not be stolen, at which point I can’t reset my fingerprints or iris pattern! The reality is that these system are electronic so it will always be possible for someone to send my biometrics to a system, whether I am present or not.

3-factor authentication, therefore, only seems genuinely viable on small controlled groups of users where the data is held by, for instance, their employer and that person effectively agrees to it because of their employment.

Well, back to passwords. A seemingly good balance between security, cost and convenience albeit with the obvious weaknesses of human memory, psychology and laziness! What can we do about that? Enter PixelPin. We believe we have a product that avoids the hassle and cost of multi-factor authentication, avoids many of the weaknesses and pitfalls of the password while at the same time providing a level of security on par-with and in some cases far exceeding that of the humble password. It is not a replacement for iris scanners at airports and will not require your life story to use and best-of-all, because it uses pictures, it is fun and much easier to remember. So what are you waiting for?

Kill the password!