DEV Community: Madalina Burci

TypingDNA is launching a new typing biometrics 2FA solution to replace SMS OTP

Madalina Burci — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 09:52:02 +0000

Introducing TypingDNA Verify: A smarter, user-friendly authentication that replaces SMS 2FA codes, reducing costs by an order of magnitude. First companies to integrate Verify get our service free of charge for the first year.

Let us know what you think in the comments!

The TypingDNA Hackathon Saga – Volume 1

Madalina Burci — Tue, 24 Nov 2020 13:46:54 +0000

Once upon a time… two months ago,
We had the TypingDNA Hackathon challenge to throw,
And used every communications medium to raise the hype:
“What would you do if you could recognize people by the way they type?”

The news traveled fast, and many adventurous spirits appeared,
More than 600 hackers to the cause adhered,
Six weeks later, after much code,
Twenty-eight submissions in the Project Gallery showed.

They were all great, a pleasure to watch and test,
The Judges and Organizing team felt very blessed,
To have received so much, both ideas and implementations,
Projects powerful enough to improve nations upon nations.

After debating, seven projects were selected,
The ones with which most people clicked and inspected.
A big thank-you to those who judged and voted,
All your thoughts were duly noted!

For starters, the popularity choices,
The project that secured the real voices,
Among Us, Devpost Community Award,
The “Social Media <> No fake tweets/users” ward.

Talking about Social, Impact was there as well,
Does ChatAppNoDrive ring a bell?
If not, it’s an app that detects if you text while driving,
And notifies recipients and asks them to stop typing.

What about Business Potential, you may ask?
This one right here was no easy task,
There was ProctoPro, another project that did wonders,
Improving the online learning covers.

We couldn’t skip the WOW factor,
There were enough projects to write a whole chapter,
But the one that took our breath away,
Was eHealth App, tracking Dermatomyositis every day.

Now, for the big prizes, we start with third,
Biowallet definitely got heard,
Securing crypto wallets against viruses and malware,
Transferring Bitcoin from person to person without a care.

Dissociative Journal came in second place,
Giving all your identities their own space,
Using sentiment analysis to determine the state of mind,
So as to ensure no identity gets left behind.

Typdf captured our minds and hearts,
Taking home two of the awards at the top of the charts,
Signing docs with your typing pattern,
Brought it first place and the TypingDNA Popularity on a platter.

If you want to get in the hackathon zone,
Make custom wallpapers all on your own,
Follow the Mix&Match Spotify Playlist notes,
And read below some judges’ and participants’ quotes:

“This hackathon reminded me once again how nice it is to build upon a passion and how important it is to have great people to learn from along the way.”
Crina Coranga, Dissociative Journal

“TypingDNA is impressive and user-friendly. In fact, I could build an application using their API in a couple of hours!”
Bell Eapen, eHealth App

“Loved being part of the Judging Team for the TypingDNA Hackathon. The idea of Frictionless authentication based on how you type is super original and there were so many incredible use cases posited by the Hackathon entrants testing the limits of the API. My favorite one was around the idea that there would be a different typing pattern if someone was Texting whilst Driving – using the API for behavioral analytics rather than authentication. But each of the Judges had their own preferences and we spent a good while arguing over which deserved the prizes. In the end, TypingDNA decided to give out a few more prizes, just to pacify the judges – but even so, there were so many entrants that worked really hard to produce their solutions and we wished we could have told them all how impressed we were with the work they had done.”
Michelle Sandford, Judge and Developer Community Advocate

“TypingDNA is one of the APIs I’ve been keeping an eye out forever since I first saw it in action, a few years ago. The potential for fingerprinting people based on the way they type is amazing, and I think someday it’ll be ubiquitous.”
Alex Lakatos, Judge, and DevRel @ Fidel

“This hackathon was so engaging that it was the first time I underestimated the duration of project development and yet this turned out to be a very pleasant reality. The best part followed the day after the hackathon ended when once we started promoting the application, we received dozens of thanks messages from real users – those for whom we created it. It’s not about how well the app is written, it’s about how much it can change people’s lives – for the better.”
Bogdan Burdalescu, Dissociative Journal

“This was my very first Hackathon and I loved it! After seeing what TypingDNA can do, implementing and using it was both challenging and fun. Overall I had a great experience and I am very proud of my result. 10/10 would do it again! :)”
Calin Stroescu, ChatAppNoDrive

“Thanks to the TypingDNA hackathon, my team and I were able to develop competencies and skills that school can’t teach you. It was such an eye-opener when it comes to what the world of computer science and engineering can offer to young students with endless ambition.”
Saoud Messaoudi, ProctoPro

5 thoughts from the DevTalks conference

Madalina Burci — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 13:49:24 +0000

As a huge fan of live events, having to experience a conference digitally was an interesting change of pace, to say the least. However, my expectations for the virtual event were quickly surpassed. I was very impressed by the number of speakers and how diverse they were. I was also impressed by the wide range of topics the conference covered (3 days, 5000+ participants, 13 stages—check out the full DevTalks agenda).

TypingDNA @ DevTalks

If you’re curious, here are the TypingDNA talks from the conference. Laura Tamas and I approached theoretical and practical aspects of typing biometrics and passwords, as well as the reality of securing remote workforce. Check out our presentations using these links:

The brave new ‘Work From Anywhere’ world and how to secure it
To People Who Want To Integrate Biometrics – But Can’t Get Started
As a bonus, we had the opportunity to give participants a short company presentation.

Now that you are familiar with our role in DevTalks, I’d like to share five of the more engaging talks I saw during the virtual event.

1. Are bots good or bad?

Michelle Sandford addressed this question by putting forward arguments that brought together aspects of technology and sociology.

While, at its core, code is simply mathematics, algorithms and logic statements, keep in mind that what was designed for good could be used for evil, too.

Besides the programmer’s bias, there is also the way people use and train the software (just look at Tay vs. Xiaoice), which is why developers must be accountable for what we deploy and have a sound understanding of the real impact that bots have on people’s lives these days.

To ensure each user gets fair and unbiased treatment, include diversity on your development team and enable support in multiple languages.

2. Following your passion

We have endless opportunities today to follow our passions and beliefs, and this idea was best showcased by Denis Radin through karmawheel.org.

Starting by comparing Buddhism to a peer-to-peer connection, he digitized a prayer wheel so it could serve many people around the world.

Regardless of what technology stack you decide to use, having an objective and being determined will keep you on the right track—and even open the door for unexpected collaborations.

3. UX vs. DX in Web Development

As developers, we get more productive by using the latest frameworks. But is this the best for our users?

Stefan Judis started a debate around the developer experience (DX) and user experience (UX), ultimately ascertaining that we should focus more on building websites that work and less on the technology behind them.

He encouraged devs to go back to the foundations (e.g., HTML, CSS, JS) and build complex apps only when it makes sense.

Also, the session was a reminder for us all that we have the responsibility to pick the right tools. A decision made today will stick around our companies’ tech stack for a while.

4. Product Metrics <> Developers

There are three types of metrics: business, product, and tech. Developers should be connected to the last two in order to assess existing features, investigate new releases, and perform incremental improvements.

With metrics being the only source of true data, as shared by Dmitry Salahutdinov, they ensure changes are impact-driven and reduce communication blockers.

Some tips and tricks he shared are: keep a naming convention that prevents entropy, have separate environments for production and testing, and organize events and properties.

5. Killing mutants – a different approach to testing

Want to ensure your code is meaningful and the unit tests are strict? Give Mutant Testing a try!

As per Dave Aronson’s explanations, first, you need to find the tests (or create them in case there are none). Second, you have to slightly modify the functions (create the mutants), and third, don’t forget to apply those tests on the mutants!

If at least one test fails, then the mutant is killed and you move to the next one. If no tests fail, then the mutant survives, meaning the code is meaningless or the tests are not enough. Although resource-intensive (e.g., CPU and time for interpretation), this approach has a lot of potential for identifying gaps.

What would you like to know about typing biometrics?

Madalina Burci — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 13:21:39 +0000

Hi,
I was wondering how familiar are you with typing biometrics, and if there is something you'd like to know about it.