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:: Why Biometrics? |
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Biometrics authenticates and
determines an individual’s identity by utilizing the uniqueness
of his or her biological and behavioral characteristics. Other
authentication methods often used are PIN method and Token (ID
Card) method. Biometrics is superior to PIN or Token methods in
the following ways:
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1) Increased Security
Biometrics offers superior security than PIN or ID Card.
Biometric methods do not involve danger of information exposure
like PIN and ID Card do and unauthorized persons cannot attempt
to steal or make a guess at private information. |
2) Increased Convenience
Today, people have to remember many passwords. They should be
able to provide their passwords whenever they use their credit
cards or log into various sites on the Internet. Uniform
passwords can lead to serious dangers if exposed. However,
biometrics does not require us to remember our passwords. |
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:: Classification
of Biometrics |
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An individual's vein pattern image is captured by
radiating his/her hand with near-infrared rays. The reflection
method illuminates the palm using an infrared ray and captures
the light given off by the region after diffusion through the
palm. The deoxidized hemoglobin in the in the vein vessels
absorbs the infrared ray, thereby reducing the reflection rate
and causing the veins to appear as a black pattern. This vein
pattern is then verified against a preregistered pattern to
authenticate the individual. |
Biometrics can be classified
according to the type of biometric data used, e.g., face, iris,
voice, signature, or hand geometry identification. However, all
these methods take the same authentication process. The
biometric authentication process is as described below:
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The pattern of blood veins is unique to every
individual, even among identical twins. Palms have a broad and
complicated vascular pattern and thus contain a wealth of
differentiating features for personal identification.
Furthermore, it will not vary during the person's lifetime. It
is a very secure method of authentication because this blood
vein pattern lies under the skin. This makes it almost
impossible for others to read or copy.
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As veins are internal in the body and have a
wealth of differentiating features, attempts to forge an
identity are extremely difficult, thereby enabling a high level
of security. In addition, the sensor of the palm vein device can
only recognize the pattern if the deoxidized hemoglobin is
actively flowing within the individual's veins.
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This system is not dangerous, a near infrared is
a component of sunlight: there is no more exposure when scanning
the hand than by walking outside in the sun.
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Among all available biometric
technologies, fingerprint identification is the most popular
one. This is due to the fact that fingerprint identification is
far more efficient than others, especially considering how
economical it is. |
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::
Issues |
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1) Standardization
Active efforts are being made to standardize various core
biometric technologies mainly available in the U.S. and Europe.
Major standardization methods for biometric identifications are
as follows: |
a) BAPI
This
standard was developed by I/O Software in 1998.
Being O/S, computer platform, and sensor device
independent, it was designed to support the
development of applications. Some of the features
include the unification of encryption method,
standardized programming environment, and support
for the client-server applications. |
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b) HA-API
This method was first introduced in December 1997 at
the 10th U.S. Biometric Consortium held by National
Registry Inc. a company sponsored by the U.S.
Ministry of National Defense. Thinking that
biometrics would be useful in computer security, the
U.S. Ministry of National Defense supported the
development. However, they failed to secure
companies to work on the project. |
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c) BioAPI
Compaq was the first company to form BioAPI
Consortium, which consisted of 6 companies with a
goal to standardize industrial biometric
identification API in April 1998. In December of the
same year, and in March the following year, BAPI and
HA-API were included in new BioAPI. BioAPI
Consortium was constituted by various groups,
including 78 companies who are biometric
identification developers and medical/financial/
governmental users. BioAPI has recently been adopted
as ANSI/INCITS 358, American standard. | | |
2) Multimodal Biometrics
There has been heated researches made to have multimodal
biometrics be a method that overcomes the limitations of
unimodal biometric technologies. Multimodal biometrics is
recommended as a way to improve user authentication through
biometrics of greater reliability.
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a) Multiple Sensors
A single biometric feature can be extracted through
different sensors. For instance, we can use optics-,
ultrasound-, and semiconductor-based sensors. |
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b) Multiple
Biometrics
A number of biometric features can
be captured simultaneously for authentication. For
example, facial and fingerprint identification can
be used at the same time. However, this method is
not recommended due to its high cost. |
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c) Multiple Units
of the Same Biometric
Various units can be
used for one biometric feature. Multiple units can
often be provided by natural human physical
structure such as through the user’s two irises and
ten fingerprints. A disadvantage to this method is
that it can make a user uncomfortable when capturing
his or her biometric feature samples. The process
can also take a long time. |
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d) Multiple
Instances
This means that pieces of biometric
information of one feature are taken at different
instances by one sensor. One example of this method
is to capture a fingerprint a number of times with a
sensor or to sample a voice or a face multiple times
for later use. |
e) Multiple
Representation and Matching Algorithms for the Same
Biometric Input Signal
Multimodal biometrics requires more time
to work with the information and develop an
appropriate system than a unimodal biometrics does
since several modules are put in use. For that
reason, if a unimodal method can assure the users of
high enough dependability in a given circumstance,
it may not be necessary to employ a multimodal
biometric method. If the greatest degree of
reliability is required, however, it may become
necessary to adopt a multimodal biometric method in
order to ensure any possible advancement. | | |
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