the world have cited biometrics as the number one security project for organizations in North America, and the number two security project in the world overall.
Most companies aren’t using any form of biometrics yet, but many are looking
into biometrics now. Security regulation, negative publicity about security breaches,
and the desire to avoid being the next security-breach scandalare prompting many organizations to take a first serious look at biometrics.
What Biometrics Are and Who’s Using Them
The term biometrics comes from the ancient Greek bios = “life” and
metron = “measure.” Biometrics refers to the entire class of technologies and
techniques to uniquely identify humans. Though biometric technology has
various uses, its primary purpose is to provide a more secure alternative to
the traditional access-control systems used to protect personal or corporate
assets.
Types of Biometrics(What Are Biometrics)
Although there are close to a dozen more-or-less effective ways to use biometricsto identify someone, they all fall into two classes physiological and behavioral.
Physiological(What Are Biometrics)Physiological biometrics measure a specific part of the structure or shape ofa portion of a subject’s body. The types of physiological biometrics include:
Fingerprint: Officially established as a means of uniquely identifying
people since around 1900, fingerprints are easily registered and measured
find them built in to laptop computers, PDAs, USB drives, door locks,
and devices for doing so are small and inexpensive. You can
and even credit cards.
Hand scan: The geometry of an entire human hand is quite unique,
almost as much as fingerprints themselves. Usually a hand scan does
not measure the fingerprint-like patterns in the fingers and palms, but
instead relies on the lengths and angles of fingers, the geometry of the
entire collection of 27 bones, plus muscles, ligaments, and other tissues.
Hand veins: If you shine a bright light through your hand, you can see
an interesting pattern of veins — and also the bones and other elements
in your hand.
Iris scan: The human iris is the set of muscles that control the size of
the pupil — that little hole in the middle of your eye. The human iris,
when viewed up close, is the complex collection of tiny muscles that are
stained various colors of brown, gray, blue, and green. When we say that
someone has blue, green, or brown “eyes,” the color we’re referring to is
the color of the iris.
Retina scan: The retina is the surface at the rear of the interior of the
eye. It’s not normally seen except when (say) a doctor shines a bright
light through the pupil just right. But it does show up when you have a
photo with “red eye” that’s the reflection of the retina. Red eye is not
sufficient to identify someone; instead, it is necessary for a person to get
their eye close up to a little camera that can see inside the eye.
Face recognition: We recognize faces almost from birth, although how
we recognize them is better understood now, enough that we can teach
computers how to do it under certain conditions. Some laptop computers
use facial recognition as a form of authentication before a subject
can access the computer.
How Biometric Systems Work
Biometric systems work through enrolling users by measuring and storing
their particular biometric, and then later comparing the stored biometric
data with data from unverified subjects to determine whether they should be
allowed to access a system or location. Take a look at the entire process in
more detail:
1. Enrollment.
Before a user can begin using a biometric system, he or she must complete
an enrollment process. Depending upon the biometric technology
in use, the user might do this on her own, or there may be a facilitator
to help. The user provides other information such as her user ID or
name, and then provides initial biometric data, which could consist of
(for example) swiping fingers over a fingerprint reader (for fingerprint
biometrics), looking into a digital camera lens (for iris biometrics), or
repeating some words or phrases (for voice biometrics). Usually the
biometric system will request several samples so that the system can
determine an average and deviation.
2.Usage.
When the user wishes to access a system or building guarded with
biometrics,the user authenticates according to procedure, which
could mean swiping a finger over a biometric fingerprint reader,
placing a hand over a hand scanner, or signing his name.
However it’s done, the biometric system will compare the
sample with data stored at enrollment time, and make a
go/no-go decision on whether the biometric data matches
or not. If there is a match, the user is given access; if not,
he is denied access and given another try.
3. Update.
For the type of biometrics that change slowly over time (such as handwriting
or facial recognition), the biometric system may need to update
the data that was originally submitted at enrollment. The biometric
system may perform this update with each subsequent measurement
(thereby increasing the number of samples, with emphasis on the newer
ones), or it may utilize a separate update process.
Biometric systems are generally pretty easy to use. In most cases, even
enrollment takes only a minute or two, and everyday usage takes only a few
seconds. Indeed, regular use may take less time than the old way of gaining
access to a computer or building. This is why we usually consider biometrics
a break-even in terms of the time required to use the system compared to the
former way in which someone had to identify themselves.
Tags:What Are Biometrics,How Biometric Systems Work
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