Quite a popular word when it comes to advance security technologies, lets drill it deeper.
Definition :
Biometrics is a technology, a science used in analyzing biological data or biological information. In terms of Information Technology, Biometrics is the technology used to measure, analyze, verify various human traits such as the foll (including, but not limited to)-
1) Iris,
2) Retina,
3) Fingerprints,
4) Blood pressure,
5) Heart beat rate,
6) DNA,
7) Facial pattern,
8) Hand pattern, etc.
By authenticating with the help of Biometric systems, we confirm the identity of the users undergoing the authentication process. An example would be the common occurence of the fingerprint scanning techniques used in corporate offices for confirming the identity of their employees, by institutions for confirming the identity of their students, professors, by Government offices for confirming the access to authorized staff members, etc.
Characteristics :
Biometrics systems possess the following seven important characteristics, as follows:-
1) Universality
2) Uniqueness
3) Permanence
4) Acceptability
5) Collectability
6) Performance
7) Circumvention
The above seven, in detail, as follows,
1) Universality :- It implies that the human characteristic being measured should be available in majority of the users of the system. For example, almost every living human has fingers and thus can be used for authenticating the users. On the other hand if we use "burns on hands" as a measure of authentication, not every user would possess a burn on his/her hand and thus can be ruled out.
2) Uniqueness :- This implies that the human characteristic chosen for authentication should be unique otherwise this biometric system would not have a true meaning. Imagine 20 people having same characteristic and the system is subjected to authenticate them on that particular characteristic. This system would indicate a positive confirmation also to those who are not authorized and hence would amount to a critical security breach.
3) Permanence :- This means that the characteristic chosen for authentication should resist itself from change for a long period of time. In simpler words, that characterstic should retain itself for a longer period of time. Imagine that if we choose height as an authentication factor, it will most probably increase after some years. At that moment, the original height wont be useful anymore and thus would require a complete recheck of the user for proper authentication.
4) Acceptability :- Imagine a system which requires you to touch a device that has been repeatedly used by others, which requires you to do some acrobatics, some kind of unusual dance, which requires you to remove your clothes, all this for authenticating you. Assuming a strong negative nod, we would definitely reject such systems. Acceptability is thus a measure of how useful the system is to the user. A system which requires you to only place your eye at the scanning area is most likely to be accepted by all the users of the system.
5) Collectability :- This simply means how easy it is to collect the authenticating characteristic from the user . For example, if it requires that the user should walk for 10 minutes before the authentication is completed, this is a very time consuming process considering this system authenticating 100 users. On the contrary, a fingerprint is easy to collect and hence would make the authentication process swifter.
6) Performance :- This talks about the performance of the authenticating system in terms of its speed, accuracy, error rate and other performance parameters.
7) Circumvention :- This describes how easily the authenticating system can be bypassed or tricked. This must be a topic of interest for the security guys, definitely !
To be continued..
Definition :
Biometrics is a technology, a science used in analyzing biological data or biological information. In terms of Information Technology, Biometrics is the technology used to measure, analyze, verify various human traits such as the foll (including, but not limited to)-
1) Iris,
2) Retina,
3) Fingerprints,
4) Blood pressure,
5) Heart beat rate,
6) DNA,
7) Facial pattern,
8) Hand pattern, etc.
By authenticating with the help of Biometric systems, we confirm the identity of the users undergoing the authentication process. An example would be the common occurence of the fingerprint scanning techniques used in corporate offices for confirming the identity of their employees, by institutions for confirming the identity of their students, professors, by Government offices for confirming the access to authorized staff members, etc.
Characteristics :
Biometrics systems possess the following seven important characteristics, as follows:-
1) Universality
2) Uniqueness
3) Permanence
4) Acceptability
5) Collectability
6) Performance
7) Circumvention
The above seven, in detail, as follows,
1) Universality :- It implies that the human characteristic being measured should be available in majority of the users of the system. For example, almost every living human has fingers and thus can be used for authenticating the users. On the other hand if we use "burns on hands" as a measure of authentication, not every user would possess a burn on his/her hand and thus can be ruled out.
2) Uniqueness :- This implies that the human characteristic chosen for authentication should be unique otherwise this biometric system would not have a true meaning. Imagine 20 people having same characteristic and the system is subjected to authenticate them on that particular characteristic. This system would indicate a positive confirmation also to those who are not authorized and hence would amount to a critical security breach.
3) Permanence :- This means that the characteristic chosen for authentication should resist itself from change for a long period of time. In simpler words, that characterstic should retain itself for a longer period of time. Imagine that if we choose height as an authentication factor, it will most probably increase after some years. At that moment, the original height wont be useful anymore and thus would require a complete recheck of the user for proper authentication.
4) Acceptability :- Imagine a system which requires you to touch a device that has been repeatedly used by others, which requires you to do some acrobatics, some kind of unusual dance, which requires you to remove your clothes, all this for authenticating you. Assuming a strong negative nod, we would definitely reject such systems. Acceptability is thus a measure of how useful the system is to the user. A system which requires you to only place your eye at the scanning area is most likely to be accepted by all the users of the system.
5) Collectability :- This simply means how easy it is to collect the authenticating characteristic from the user . For example, if it requires that the user should walk for 10 minutes before the authentication is completed, this is a very time consuming process considering this system authenticating 100 users. On the contrary, a fingerprint is easy to collect and hence would make the authentication process swifter.
6) Performance :- This talks about the performance of the authenticating system in terms of its speed, accuracy, error rate and other performance parameters.
7) Circumvention :- This describes how easily the authenticating system can be bypassed or tricked. This must be a topic of interest for the security guys, definitely !
To be continued..
