Biometric+Technology


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=Introduction=

In the digital age that we live in, security has become a pressing issue. Innovations, like personal identification numbers, cards, passwords and personal Information are being replaced by extremely sophisticated technologies such as Biometrics. Biometrics is known to be the best safeguard against identity theft and Internet frauds.PINs, cards and passwords are soon becoming obsolete since people have developed card skimmers, they have also come up with ways to crack and decrypt passwords and PINs. Hence there is an urgent need of better and more sophisticated technology to protect the consumers who use products that require these security measures.

What is a Biometric
Biometric is a biological and behavioral characteristic of a person. These characteristics are unique to every individual and serve as individual identity tags.

What is Biometric Technology
Biometric Technology is the use of an individual’s biological and behavioral characteristics for the purpose of security. Biometrics is more efficient and precise than other existing technologies such as Personal Identification Numbers, Passwords or Cards. Biometric characteristics rarely ever change, and since it does not involve any hardware that has to be carried or any information that has to be memorized, it reduces the chances of security breaches.

The biological characteristics that are currently being used by Biometric Technology are:


 * Face Recognition
 * Hand Scan
 * Retina Scan
 * Iris Scan
 * Finger Prints

The behavioral characteristics that are currently being used are:


 * Voice Recognition
 * Personal Signature Scan
 * Keystroke Scan

How Biometric Technology Works
In a standard system, every new person will register with the system by using one of their biological / behavioral characteristic (depending on what trait the system is designed to work with e.g. voice recognition or hand scans.) This information will then be processed and transformed in to a digital representation of the biometric and stored in a database. All subsequent attempts to use the system will require the person to give a sample of the same trait that was initially registered with the system. This new sample will be converted into a digital string and compared to the one initially stored in the database. Access will be granted based on how closely the new sample matches the stored sample. The comparison process uses “Hamming distance”. Hamming distance measures how similar two digital strings are, in our case these would be the string stored in the database and the new string created each time a person needs to access the system. The hamming distance range is between zero and one, zero being a complete mismatch and one being a perfect match.


 * Face Recognition**: The facial recognition systems are capable of identifying human faces by measuring “nodal points” such as the shape of one’s eyes, cheekbones, the distance between the eyes and other distinguishable features. These nodal points are the compared to the ones stored on the database to provide a match or a mismatch. This technology is not yet perfected as a picture can be distorted by facial angle or lighting hence is susceptible to breaches.


 * Finger Print Scan:** The finger print scan is a more common kind of biometric technology, and is widely used in businesses and institutions for security purposes. The Finger Print Scan uses the person’s finger prints as a basis for recognition. The finger prints are mapped in two ways. Either the optical scanner is used which maps the fingerprints by the use of light, or a capacitive scanner which uses electrical currents. These maps are then compared to the sample maps to provide a match or a mismatch. This technology also has its drawbacks since samples can mismatch due to dry skin, skin ailments, old skin or smudges on the reader.


 * Hand Scans:** The hand scan is similar to the face recognition. Unlike popular belief the hand scan does not read finger prints or palm prints. It takes over 95 different measurements of the back of the hand. These measurements are recorded and can then be used to provide a positive or a negative identity match. Hand Scans also have drawbacks as young children are unable to use this technology since the measurements of their hands are quickly changing.


 * Retina Scans**: Retina Scans uses the identification of blood vessels at the back of a person’s eye. A low-intensity light source and an optical coupler are used to create a pattern which is the compared with the sample pattern to provide a match or a mismatch. This biometric is the most efficient way to provide identification or verification since the iris is not replicable and a dead persons’ iris starts to rot immediately after death. However, it is also the most intrusive as people generally dislike having anything inside their eyes measured.


 * Iris Scan**: Iris scans use the features that are in the iris, where exist multiple points that can be used for comparison like rings, furrows, and freckles. This technology is not as intrusive as the Retina scanners since a person can be identified or verified from up to two feet away. 


 * Voice Recognition**: Voice recognition requires a person to record a sample of phrases and words. This voice print is saved on a spectrogram, which measures the sound’s frequency against time. This is then measured with old samples to provide positive or negative verification. Voice recognition can be manipulated by using recorded voices, however new innovation such as the use of different pitches is helping in improving this technology.


 * Personal Signature Verification**: Signatures are taken on tablets or paper and compared to existing samples in the database to provide verification.


 * Keystroke Verification**: People are asked to type out words and their speeds are measured and compared to the speeds existing in the database to provide verification.

=Conclusion=

As we step ahead into the new millennium, identity thefts and Internet scams are becoming increasingly common. More and more governments and institutions are now using this technology to safeguard their airports, hospitals, prisons and other sensitive areas. In this era, it is imperative that we continuously upgrade our security systems, and the use of biometrics is a step towards the security upgrade that we continuously require.

=See Also=

Biometrics Iris Recognition Technology =Works Cited=

“Biometrics Home.” NCSC Homepage. 27 February 2006 [|http://ctl.ncsc.dni.us/biomet%20web/BMFingerprint.html]

“Face Recognition.” EPIC Face Recognition Information Page. 27 February 2006 http://www.epic.org/privacy/facerecognition/

“Visitor registration biometric Hand Scans.” Biometric Handscans. 27 February 2006 http://www.fplao.org/BiometricHandScan.html

“When your fingerprints are key.” Precise Biometrics. 27 February 2006 http://www.precisebiometrics.com/products.asp?GROUPID=20020627_135857_50337051