Biometrics

From Isopedia

Technical Information

Biometrics are automated methods of recognizing a person based on a physiological or behavioral characteristic. Among the features measured are face, fingerprints, hand geometry, handwriting, iris, retinal, vein, speech, ear, gait, and voice. Biometric technologies are becoming the foundation of an extensive array of highly secure identification and personal verification solutions. As the level of security breaches and transaction fraud increases, the need for highly secure identification and personal verification technologies is becoming apparent. Biometric-based solutions are able to provide for confidential financial transactions and personal data privacy. The need for biometrics can be found in federal, state and local governments, in the military, and in commercial applications. Enterprise-wide network security infrastructures, government IDs, secure electronic banking, investing and other financial transactions, retail sales, law enforcement, and health and social services are already benefiting from these technologies. Biometric-based authentication applications include workstation, network, and domain access, single sign-on, application logon, data protection, remote access to resources, transaction security and Web security. Trust in these electronic transactions is essential to the healthy growth of the global economy. Utilized alone or integrated with other technologies such as smart cards, encryption keys and digital signatures, biometrics are set to pervade nearly all aspects of the economy and our daily lives. Utilizing biometrics for personal authentication is becoming convenient and considerably more accurate than current methods (such as the utilization of passwords or PINs).

Historical Information

While biometrics did not show up in practice in Western cultures until late in the 19th century, it was being used in China by at least the 14th century. It was founded that Chinese merchants stamped children’s palm prints and footprints on paper with ink. The merchants did this as a way to distinguish young children from one another. In the West, identification relied heavily simply upon photographic memory until the French police desk clerk and anthropologist Alphonse Bertillon developed the anthropometric system in 1883. This was the first precise, scientific system that was widely used to identify criminals. It turned biometrics into a field of study. It worked by precisely measuring certain lengths and widths of the head and body, as well as recording individual markings such as tattoos and scars. Bertillon’s system was widely adopted in the West until the system’s flaws became apparent. Mainly problems with differing methods of measurement and changing measurements. After that, Western police forces turned to fingerprinting – essentially the same system seen in China hundreds of years prior. In recent years biometrics has moved from simply fingerprinting, to many different methods that use various physical and behavioral measurements. The uses of biometrics have also increased, from just identification to verification as used in security systems and more. Since 9/11 biometrics has been getting great attention all over the world by scientists, researchers and engineers. Today, everywhere in the world, especially in the western part of the world, security is given the top priority to counter the possible treats from terrorists and hence biometrics and security are the synonyms. Biometric systems are spreading rapidly at all security prone areas such as airports, banks, offices also with documentation like passport, identity card, driving license, etc. Recent advances in biometric now allow organizations to identify proper identification using the human face(2D,3D,and Thermal), speech, signatures, hand geometry, hand vein and palm prints, retinal patterns, and the ear(2D/3D). Current applications of the biometric techonologies include:

- Retail sales, including payment using a fingerprint rather than a check, cash or credit card

- E-commerce and on-line banking

- Access to computers and networks

- Electronic passports and other international traveler verification systems

- IDs

- Health care applications such as limiting access to medical records only when the physician and patient give their approval

References

http://ntrg.cs.tcd.ie/undergrad/4ba2.02/biometrics/history.html

http://www.biometricgroup.com/

http://biometrics.cse.msu.edu/info.html

http://www.iitk.ac.in/news/biometrics/

http://www.ieeesmc.org/newsletter/dec2005/bioCFP.pdf