He's not holding a hatchet yet. (Image Devdsp on Flickr

If nothing else, hackers’ exploits in the last couple of years have revealed the frailty of the password protection system. With that in mind, Intel Labs has developed a biometric device and software that could essentially turn the patterns of veins in our palms into biological bar codes. On Thursday Sridhar Iyengar, Intel's director of security research, revealed the system to an annual Intel Developer Forum:

Iyengar demonstrated the technology, quickly waving his hand in front of a tablet but not touching it. Once the tablet recognizes a user, it can securely communicate that person's identity to banks, social networks and other services where the person has accounts, he said.

As Reuters explains, the biometric identification system would shift the responsibility for secure web browsing from websites to hardware. Even if your laptop or phone were stolen, the thief couldn't log on without the owner's palm.

That sounds great if you don't consider how it could lead to some pretty grisly scenarios that might give a whole new meaning to the word "hacker."