Biometrics is an automated technique of verifying the identity of an individual based on measurable physiological or behavioral characteristics. Physiological, i.e. the ones people are born with, for example finger prints that is being used for a long time now. Another example is of eye (retinal and iris) scans that you can see in so many movies and hand geometry that determines the shape, the veins the pressure of the hand thereby leading to identification of the individual. These do not change with time. Behavioral traits are the ones that have been acquired over a period of time through the learning process. Examples are: Voice recognition, pitch tone, the way a person says something. Handwriting analysis has been around for some time now. Biometrics create actual authentication as the physical identity of the individual is verified. Biometrics technology is a non-intrusive way to match the unique characteristics of live individuals in real time against enrolled templates or records. Behavoural characteristics do not provide complete accuracy, as opposed to physiological traits. But Biometrics, using physiological traits are considered intrusive and people are not comfortable with them. Further, hardware is required for physiological traits, while for behavioural, it is usually minimal hardware and maximum software.
Q. What are the methods of Authentication that are used?
A typical example of the first form is the password that is provided to people and they memorize it. The second form is the identification card, the drivers' license, passport etc. papers that people carry. The third form is related to biometric technology, in which you don't need to remember anything or present anythingall you need to do is to be there yourself. Biometrics authentication uses a unique, non-transferable, physical characteristic such as a fingerprint to gain entry or for personal identification to verify "who" they say they are. It is a system that recognizes a person based on "who" the person is and does not rely on "what a person knows or is able to remember" such as pin numbers and passwords which can be lost, forgotten or stolen. Biometric IDs rely on something that cannot be changed, you!
Q. Is Biometrics technology safe to use?
Biometrics technology & devices have been around for over two decades. The technologies have varying degrees of intrusiveness but present no risk to public health and safety. Biometric technologies have been used and tested under the most demanding real world applications and conditions. It has protected facilities that are vital to national security, protected corporate networks to preserve the integrity of data systems, and allowed controlled authenticated access to corporate network and information assets. The real-world results show that biometrics technology is easy to use, robust and cost effective. Today's biometrics technology is ready for use in commercial, production, and end-user environments.
Q. What is the most viable and least intrusive biometrics techniques available today and why?
Fingerprint scanning is the most viable and established biometrics technique available today to verify the identity of a PC or network user. It is the easiest to use and the most economical to implement in user authentication techniques. Voice Recognition Analysis is the least intrusive of the biometrics techniques available today but is not a good choice for PC or network user authentication because: a person's voice could be recorded and used for unauthorized PC or network access. an illness, such as a cold, can change the voice making absolute identification difficult or impossible.
Q. How does the finger print identification technology work?
Once the fingerprint is scanned, the image is converted into a mathematical template called a "minutia file" which is a data representation of the fingerprint. This is what is stored and later compared against during verification. Furthermore, the minutia file cannot be reconverted back to the original fingerprint image. The fingerprint image itself is never stored for your security.
The applications that may use this are any and all applications that currently use a pin code, password or a combination of user ID methods. These applications include PC-peripherals for secure workstations, PC network security solutions, E-commerce, entry-access systems, door-locks, time-and-attendance machines, ATMs, toys and games. the possibilities are only limited by the imagination. The exploding market of portable electronics, such as Palm, CE and personal communicators, demand security that cannot be stolen or inadvertently passed on to an unauthorized user.
Q. Have biometrics systems ever been tested under real world conditions?
These tests are in progress. The biometrics industry is very new and testing and evaluation of these types of devices are currently being conducted by testing facilities such as San Jose State and the University of Arizona. Engineers have tested the algorithm type against the largest commercially available fingerprint database
