Biometric Authentication
Biometric Authentication
FACULTY OF SCIENCE
BIOMETRICS AUTHENTICATION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
People identify one other according to their various characteristics for ages. Voices and faces are
the conspicuos featutes humans use to recognize each other when they meet. A well orchestrated
biometric authentication solution is used to detect imposters and keeping secured transaction logs
for imposters’ prosecution.
Traditionally,Authentication in computer systems has been based on something that one has or
one knows for example cards or passwords which might be stolen or lost. For reliable
identification or verification people should use identities which really characterizes the given
person.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It gives me a great pleasure and satisfaction in presenting this seminar report. I would like to
take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to faculty members who have been great
sense of support and inspiration thought the research work successful. This seminar work
would not have been possible without the kind support of many people. There are lots of
people who inspired me and helped, worked for me in every possible way to provide the
details about various related topics thus making research and report work success.
I am very grateful to Prof. Tupti Kodinariya for all his diligence, guidance, encouragement
and help throughout the period of research, which have enabled me to complete the research
work in time. His constant inspiration and encouragement along with his valuable guidance
has been instrumental in the successful completion of this project.
I would like to thank my parents for their valuable support and encouragement. I would like to
thank my friends for their support.
Last, but not the least my special thanks goes to my institute, Atmiya Institute of Technology
& Science, Rajkot for giving me this opportunity to work in the great environment.
VADI HENA
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LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
The prevailing techniques of user authentication, which involve the use of either passwords
and user IDs (identifiers), or identification cards and PINs (personal identification numbers),
suffer from several limitations. Passwords and PINs can be illicitly acquired by direct covert
observation. Once an intruder acquires the user ID or network access. Many other
applications in everyday life also require user authentication, such as banking, e- commerce,
and physical access control to computer resources, and could benefit from and the password,
the intruder has total access to the user’s resources. In addition, there is no way to positively
link the usage of the system or service to the actual user, that is, there is no protection against
repudiation by the user ID owner. For example, when a user ID and password is shared with a
colleague there is no way for the system to know who the actual user is. A similar situation
arises when a transaction involving a credit card number is conducted on the Web. Even
though the data are sent over the Web using secure encryption methods, current systems are
not capable of assuring that the rightful owner of the credit card initiated the transaction. In
the modern distributed systems environment, the traditional authentication policy based on a
simple combination of user ID and password has become inadequate. Fortunately, automated
biometrics in general, and fingerprint technology in particular, can provide a much more
accurate and reliable user authentication method. Biometrics is a rapidly advancing field that
is concerned with identifying a person based on his or her physiological or behavioural
characteristics. Biometrics is derived from the conjunction of the Greek words bios and
metrics that mean life and to measure respectively. Examples of automated biometrics
include fingerprint, face, iris, and speech recognition. Since biometrics is extremely difficult
to forge and cannot be forgotten or stolen, Biometric authentication offers a convenient,
accurate,irreplaceable and high secure alternative for an individual, which makes it has
advantages over traditional cryptography-based authentication schemes. It has become a hot
interdisciplinary topic involving biometric and Cryptography. Biometric data is personal
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privacy information, which uniquely and permanently associated with a person and cannot be
replaced like passwords or keys. Once an adversary compromises the biometric data of a user,
the data is lost forever, which may lead to a huge financial loss. Hence, one major concern is
how a person’s biometric data, once collected, can be protected.
User authentication methods can be broadly classified into three categories as shown
in Table 1.1. Because a biometric property is an intrinsic property of an individual, it is
difficult to surreptitiously duplicate and nearly impossible to share. Additionally, a biometric
property of an individual can be lost only in case of serious accident.
Biometric readings, which range from several hundred bytes to over a megabyte, have
the advantage that their information content is usually higher than that of a password or a pass
phrase. Simply extending the length of passwords to get equivalent bit strength presents
significant usability problems. It is nearly impossible to remember a 2K phrase, and it would
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take an annoyingly long time to type such a phrase (especially without errors). Fortunately,
automated biometrics can provide the security advantages of long passwords while retaining
the speed and characteristic simplicity of short passwords.
Even though automated biometrics can help alleviate the problems associated with the
existing methods of user authentication, hackers will still find there are weak points in the
system, vulnerable to attack. Password systems are prone to brute force dictionary attacks.
Biometric systems, on the other hand, require substantially more effort for mounting such an
attack. Yet there are several new types of attacks possible in the biometrics domain. This may
not apply if biometrics is used as a supervised authentication tool. But in remote, unattended
applications, such as Web-based e-commerce applications, hackers may have the opportunity
and enough time to make several attempts, or even physically violate the integrity of a remote
client, before detection.
A problem with biometric authentication systems arises when the data associated with
a biometric feature has been compromised. For authentication systems based on physical
tokens such as keys and badges, a compromised token can be easily cancelled and the user
can be assigned a new token. Similarly, user IDs and passwords can be changed as often as
required. Yet, the user only has a limited number of biometric features (one face, ten fingers,
two eyes). If the biometric data are compromised, the user may quickly run out of biometric
features to be used for authentication.
It is not only the initial cost that of the sensor or the matching hardware that is
involved. Often the life cycle support cost can overtake the initial cost of the hardware. Most
of the biometric systems like finger print recognition, iris recognition etc. areaccurate. But
some others like facial recognition etc. are not that accurate.
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1.1 HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF BIOMETRICS
The idea of using patterns for personal identification was originally proposed in 1936
byophthalmologist Frank Burch. By the 1980’s the idea had appeared in James Bond films,
but itstill remained science fiction and conjecture. In 1987, two other ophthalmologists Aram
Safirand Leonard Flom patented this idea and in 1987 they asked John Daugman to try to
createactual algorithms for this iris recognition. These algorithms which Daugman patented in
1994 arethe basis for all current iris recognition systems and products.
Daugman algorithms are owned by Iridian technologies and the process is licensed toseveral
other Companies who serve as System integrators and developers of special
platformsexploiting iris recognition in recent years several products have been developed for
acquiring itsimages over a range of distances and in a variety of applications. One active
imaging systemdeveloped in 1996 by licensee Sensar deployed special cameras in bank ATM
to capture IRISimages at a distance of up to 1 meter. This active imaging system was
installed in cash machinesboth by NCR Corps and by Diebold Corp in successful public trials
in several countries during 1997to 1999. a new and smaller imaging device is the low cost
“Panasonic Authenticam” digitalcamera for handheld, desktop, e-commerce and other
information security applications. Ticketless air travel, check-in and security procedures
based on iris recognition kiosks in airports havebeen developed by eye ticket. Companies in
several, countries are now using Daughman’salgorithms in a variety of products.
Biometrics can provide very secure and convenient authentication for an individual since they
cannot be stolen or forgotten and are very difficult to forge.
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Figure 1.1 Single Biometric
The term “biometrics” is derived from two Greek words ‘bios’ for life and ‘metron’
for measure. A biometric can be described as a measurable physical and/or behavioral trait
that can be captured and used to verify the identity of a person by comparing the metric to a
previously stored template. The area of biometrics can therefore be defined as the task of
automatically recognizing a person using his/her distinguishing traits. Examples of these
“distinguishing traits” are fingerprints, voice patterns, facial characteristics etc. The idea of
biometric identification is not new, it have been around for centuries. Example of a biometric
is the photo on identification cards and passports, which still is the most important way of
verifying the identity of a person. As early as the 14th century, the Chinese were reportedly
using fingerprints as form of signature. During the late 1890’s, a method of bodily
measurement called “Bertillonage” (after its founder Alphonse Bertillone) was used by Police
Department in Paris & France and this identification based on the number of bodily
measurement and physical description. The difference today, is that we now have access to
technologies enabling us to do these verifications automatically and almost in real-time.
Practically all biometrics system work in the same manner, first a person is enrolled into a
database using
The specified method, information about a certain characteristics of the human being
is captured, this information is usually placed through an algorithm that turns the information
into a code that the database stores. When the person need to be identified, the system will
take the information about the person, again this new information is placed through the
algorithm and then compares the new code with the ones in the database to discover a match
and hence, identification.
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1.2.2 MULTIMODAL BIOMETRIC
Physical biometrics:
Most biometrics systems use a similar procedure to verify a biometric. procedure can
be divided into the following steps: enrolment, live sample, transaction completion template
sample, storage & verification.
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2. BIOMETRIC SYSTEM COMPONENTS AND PROCESS
2.1 COMPONENTS:
2.2 PROCESS:
1) Enrollment,
2) Verification.
2.2.1 ENROLLMENT:
As shown in Figure 2.1, the biometric image of the individual is captured during the
enrollment process (e.g., using a sensor for fingerprint, microphone for voice verification,
camera for face recognition, scanner for eye scan). The unique characteristics are then
extracted from the biometric image to create the user’s biometric template. This biometric
template is stored in a database or on a machine-readable ID card for later use during an
identity verification process.
Figure 2.2 illustrates the identity verification process. The biometric image is again captured.
The unique characteristics are extracted from the biometric image to create the users “live”
biometric template. This new template is then compared with the template previously stored
and a numeric matching score is generated, based on the percentage of duplication between
the live and stored template. System designers determine the threshold value for this identity
verification score based upon the security requirements of the system.
Recognition Systems
Identifying a person among the whole group of users enrolled in the system.
It must be an online system.
Typical applications : Forensics
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Identification(1-to-many comparison) verifies if the individual exists within a known
population. Identification confirms that the individual is not enrolled with another identity
and is not on a predetermined list of prohibited persons. Identification will typically need a
secured database containing a list of all applying individuals and their biometrics. The
biometric for the individual being considered for enrollment would be compared against all
stored biometrics. For many applications, an identification process is used only at the time of
enrollment to verify that the individual is not already enrolled.
Authentication Systems
A key factor in the selection of the appropriate biometric technology is its accuracy.
Biometric accuracy is the system’s ability of separating legitimate matches from imposters.
When the live biometric template is compared to the stored biometric template, a matching
score is used to confirm or deny the identity of the user. System designers set this numeric
score to accommodate the desired level of accuracy for the system, as measured by the False
Acceptance Rate (FAR) and False Rejection Rate (FRR).
• False Rejection Rate (FRR) refers to the statistical probability that the biometric
system is not able to verify the legitimate claimed identity of an enrolled person, or fails to
identify an enrolled person.
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• False Acceptance Rate (FAR) refers to the statistical probability of False Acceptance or
incorrect verification. In the most common context, both False Rejection and False
Acceptance represent a security hazard.
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operating point may be quite different. To provide high security, biometric systems operate at
a low FAR instead of the commonly recommended equal error rate (EER) operating point
where FAR=FRR.
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3. BIOMETRIC TECHNOLOGY
3.1.1 PROCESS:
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• Electronic fingerprint scanners capture digital "pictures" of fingerprints, either based
on light reflections of the finger's ridges and valleys, or the electrical properties of the
finger's ridges and valleys.
• These pictures are then processed into digital templates that contain the unique
extracted features of a finger.Uses the ridge endings and bifurcation's on a persons
finger to plot points known as Minutiae.The number and locations of the minutiae
vary from finger to finger in any particular person, and from person to person for any
particular finger
• These digital fingerprint templates can be stored in databases and used in place of
traditional passwords for secure access.
Image techniques
Use both optical and numerical image correlation techniques
Feature techniques
Extracts features and develop representations from these features
Advantages:
Very high accuracy.
Is the most economical biometric PC user authentication technique.
it is one of the most developed biometrics
Easy to use.
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Small storage space required for the biometric template, reducing the size of the
database memory required
It is standardized.
Disadvantages:
For some people it is very intrusive, because is still related to criminal identification.
It can make mistakes with the dryness or dirty of the finger’s skin, as well as with the
age (is not appropriate with children, because the size of their fingerprint changes
quickly).
Image captured at 500 dots per inch (dpi). Resolution: 8 bits per pixel. A 500 dpi
fingerprint image at 8 bits per pixel demands a large memory space, 240 Kbytes
approximately → Compression required.
The human retina is a thin tissue composed of neural cells that is located in the
posterior portion of the eye.
Because of the complex structure of the capillaries that supply the retina with blood,
each person’s retina is unique.
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The network of blood vessels in the retina is so complex that even identical twins do
not share a similar pattern. Although retinal patterns may be altered in cases of
diabetes, glaucoma or retinal degenerative disorders, the retina typically remains
unchanged from birth until death.
A biometric identifier known as a retinal scan is used to map the unique patterns of a
person’s retina.
The blood vessels within the retina absorb light more readily than the surrounding
tissue and are easily identified with appropriate lighting. A retinal scan is performed
by casting a beam of low-energy infrared light into a person’s eye as they look
through the scanner’s eyepiece.
DISADVANTAGES Advantages:
Disadvantages:
• Very intrusive.
• It has the stigma of consumer's thinking it is potentially harmful to the eye.
• Comparisons of template records can take upwards of 10 seconds, depending on the
size of the database.
• Very expensive.
3.3 IRIS SCAN:
The iris is a thin, circular structure in the eye, responsible for controlling the diameter
and size of the pupils and thus the amount of light reaching the retina.
The iris is the colored portion of the eye surrounding the pupil. Its pattern results from
a meshwork of muscle ligaments, and its color and contrast are determined
bypigmentation.
“Eye color” is the color of the iris, which can be green, blue, or brown. In some cases
it can be hazel (a combination of light brown, green and gold), grey, violet, or even
pink.
In response to the amount of light entering the eye, muscles attached to the iris expand
or contract the aperture at the center of the iris, known as the pupil.
The larger the pupil, the more light can enter. Iris recognition is an automated method
of biometric identification that uses mathematical pattern-recognition techniques on
video images of the iries of an individual’s eyes, whose complex random patterns are
unique and can be seen from some distance.
DISADVANTAGES Advantages:
Disadvantages:
• Intrusive.
• A lot of memory for the data to be stored.
• Very expensive
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Hand geometry systems are commonly available in two main forms. Full hand geometry
systems take an image of the entire hand for comparison while Two Finger readers only
image two fingers of the hand.
Hand recognition technology is currently one of the most deployed biometrics discipline.
Hand geometry is a biometric that identifies users by the shape of their hands. Usually a
specialized reader device to measure aspects such as length, width, thickness, and surface area
of the hand and fingers .
A camera capture an image of the hand, with the help of a mirror to get also the edge. The
graph of the hand is extracted, and some geometrical characteristics stored.
Hand geometry readers measure a user's hand along many dimensions and compare those
measurements to measurements stored in a file.
DISADVANTAGES Advantages:
Though it requires special hardware to use, it can be easily integrated into other
devices or systems.
It has no public attitude problems as it is associated most commonly with authorized
access.
The amount of data required to uniquely identify a user in a system is the smallest by
far, allowing it to be used with SmartCardseasily.
Disadvantages:
• Very expensive
• Considerable size.
• It is not valid for arthritic person, since they cannot put the hand on the scanner
properly.
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3.5 VOICE PATTERN
DISADVANTAGES Advantages:
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Disadvantages:
• A person’s voice can be easily recorded and used for unauthorised PC or network.
• Low accuracy.
• An illness such as a cold can change a person’s voice, making absolute identification
difficult or impossible.
1. off-line(Static)
2. on-line(Dynamic)
Static:
In this mode, users write their signature on paper, digitize it through an optical scanner or a
camera, and the biometric system recognizes the signature analyzing its shape. This group is
also known as “off-line”.
Dynamic:
In this mode, users write their signature in a digitizing tablet, which acquires the signature in
real time. Dynamic recognition is also known as “on-line”.
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Figure 3.10 Raw Data in Signature writing
2). Extract features and compare distances with the those in the template.
Feature Extraction/Selection
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Figure 3.11 Feature Comparison
DISADVANTAGES Advantages:
Non intrusive.
Cheap technology.
Disadvantages:
• Signature verification is designed to verify subjects based on the traits of their unique
signature. As a result, individuals who do not sign their names in a consistent manner
may have difficulty enrolling and verifying in signature verification.
3.7.1 FEATURES
• Often used
– Latency between keystrokes
– Duration of keystroke, hold-time
• Seldom used
– Overall typing speed
– Frequency of errors
– Habit of using additional keys (numpad…)
– Capital letters (order of releasing shift and letter)
– Force of hitting keys (special keyboard needed)
3.7.2 EXAMPLE
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3.8 FACIAL RECOGNITION SYSTEM:
It is typically used for security systems and can be compared to other biometrics such
asfingerprint or eye iris recognition systems.Popular recognition algorithms include
eigenface, fisherface, the Hidden Markov model,and the neuronal motivated Dynamic Link
Matching. A newly emerging trend, claimed toachieve previously unseen accuracies, is three-
dimensional face recognition. Anotheremerging trend uses the visual details of the skin, as
captured in standard digital orscanned images.
The main technological limitation of 3D face recognition methods is the acquisition of3D
images, which usually requires a range camera. This is also a reason why 3D facerecognition
methods have emerged significantly later (in the late 1980s) than 2Dmethods. Recently
commercial solutions have implemented depth perception byprojecting a grid onto the face
and integrating video capture of it into a high resolution3D model. This allows for good
recognition accuracy with low cost off-the-shelfcomponents.
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Currently, 3D face recognition is still an open research field, though several vendorsalready
offer commercial solutions.
Advantages:
Non intrusive
Cheap technology.
Disadvantages
2D recognition is affected by changes in lighting, the person’s hair, the age, and if the
person wear glasses.
Requires camera equipment for user identification; thus, it is not likely to become
popular until most PCs include cameras as standard equipment.
The chemical structure of everyone's DNA is the same. The only difference betweenpeople
(or any animal) is the order of the base pairs. There are so many millions of basepairs in each
person's DNA that every person has a different sequence.
Using these sequences, every person could be identified solely by the sequence of theirbase
pairs. However, because there are so many millions of base pairs, the task would bevery time-
consuming. Instead, scientists are able to use a shorter method, because ofrepeating patterns
in DNA.
These patterns do not, however, give an individual "fingerprint," but they are able todetermine
whether two DNA samples are from the same person, related people, or non- related people.
Scientists use a small number of sequences of DNA that are known tovary among individuals
a great deal, and analyze those to get a certain probability of amatch.
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3.9.1 HOW IS DNA FINGERPRINTING DONE?
Every strand of DNA has pieces that contain genetic information which informs anorganism's
development (exons) and pieces that, apparently, supply no relevant geneticinformation at all
(introns). Although the introns may seem useless, it has been found thatthey contain repeated
sequences of base pairs. These sequences, called Variable NumberTandem Repeats (VNTRs),
can contain anywhere from twenty to one hundred base pairs.
Every human being has some VNTRs. To determine if a person has a particular VNTR,
aSouthern Blot is performed, and then the Southern Blot is probed, through a
hybridizationreaction, with a adioactive version of the VNTR in question. The pattern which
resultsfrom this process is what is often referred to as a DNA fingerprint.
A given person's VNTRs come from the genetic information donated by his or herparents; he
or she could have VNTRs inherited from his or her mother or father, or acombination, but
never a VNTR either of his or her parents do not have. Shown beloware the VNTR patterns
for Mrs. A [blue], Mr. A [yellow], and their fourchildren: D1 (the A's biological daughter), D2
(Mr. A's step-daughter, child of Mrs. A and her former husband [red]), S1 (the A' biological
son), and S2 (the A' adopted son, not biologically related [his parents are light and dark
green]).
Because VNTR patterns are inherited genetically, a given person's VNTR pattern is moreor
less unique. The more VNTR probes used to analyze a person's VNTR pattern, themore
distinctive and individualized that pattern, or DNA fingerprint, will be.
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3.9.2 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
Extremely intrusive.
Very expensive.
3.10 COMPARISON:
Term Stability
A biometric system which relies only on a single biometric identifier in making a personal
identification is often not able to meet the desired performance requirements. Identification
based on multiple biometrics represents an emerging trend. We introduce a multimodal
biometric system, which integrates face recognition, fingerprint verification, and speaker
verification in making a personal identification. This system takes advantage of the
capabilities of each individual biometric. It can be used to overcome some of the limitations
of a single biometrics. Preliminary experimental results demonstrate that the identity
established by such an integrated system is more reliable than the identity established by a
face recognition system, a fingerprint verification system, and a speaker verification system.
Figure diagrams BioID’s functions. The systemacquires (records), preprocesses, and classifies
eachbiometric feature separately. During the training(enrollment) of the system, biometric
templates aregenerated for each feature. For classification, the systemcompares these
templates with the newly recordedpattern. Then, using a strategy that depends on thelevel of
security required by the application, it combinesthe classification results into one result by
whichit recognizes persons.
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5. VULNERABLE POINTS OF BIOMETRIC SYSTEM
A generic biometric system can be cast in the framework of a pattern recognition system. The
stages of such a generic system are shown in Figure 5.1
The first stage involves biometric signal acquisition from the user (e.g., the inkless fingerprint
scan). The acquired signal typically varies significantly from presentation to presentation;
hence, pure pixel-based matching techniques do not work reliably. For this reason, the second
signal processing stage attempts to construct a more invariant representation of this basic
input signal (e.g., in terms of fingerprint minutiae). The invariant representation is often a
spatial domain characteristic or a transform (frequency) domain characteristic, depending on
the particular biometric.
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device. The password encrypted can be viewed as the feature extractor and the comparator as
the matcher. The template database is equivalent to the encrypted password database.
There are eight places in the generic biometric system of Figure 5.1 where attacks
may occur. The numbers in Figure 9.1 correspond to the items in the following list.
3. Overriding the feature extraction process: The feature extractor is attacked using a
Trojan horse, so that it produces feature sets preselected by the intruder.
4. Tampering with the biometric feature representation: The features extracted from
the input signal are replaced with a different, fraudulent feature set (assuming the
representation method is known). Often the two stages of feature extraction and matcher are
inseparable and this mode of attack is extremely difficult. However, if minutiae are
transmitted to a remote matcher (say, over the Internet) this threat is very real. One could
“snoop” on the TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) stack and alter
certain packets.
5. Corrupting the matcher: The matcher is attacked and corrupted so that it produces
preselected match scores.
6. Tampering with stored templates: The database of stored templates could be either
local or remote. The data might be distributed over several servers. Here the attacker could try
to modify one or more templates in the database, which could result either in authorizing a
fraudulent individual or denying service to the persons associated with the corrupted
template. A smart card-based authentication system,where the template is stored in the smart
card and presented to the authentication system, is particularly vulnerable to this type of
attack.
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7. Attacking the channel between the stored templates and the matcher: The stored
templates are sent to the matcher through a communication channel. The data traveling
through this channel could be intercepted and modified.
8. Overriding the final decision: If the final match decision can be overridden by the
hacker, then the authentication system has been disabled. Even if the actual pattern recognition
framework has excellent performance characteristics, it has been rendered useless by the
simple exercise of overriding the match result.
There exist several security techniques to thwart attacks at these various points. For
instance, finger conductivity or fingerprint pulse at the sensor can stop simple attacks at point
1. Encrypted communication channelscan eliminate at least remote attacks at point 4.
However, even if the hacker cannot penetrate the feature extraction module, the system is still
vulnerable. The simplest way to stop attacks at points 5, 6, and 7 is to have the matcher and
the database reside at a secure location. Of course, even this cannot prevent attacks in which
there is collusion. Use of cryptographyprevents attacks at point 8. It is observed that the
threats outlined in Figure are quite similar to the threats to password-based authentication
systems. For instance, all the channel attacks are similar. One difference is that there is no
“fake password” equivalent to the fake biometric attack at point 1 (although, perhaps if the
password was in some standard dictionary it could be deemed “fake”). Furthermore, in a
password- or token-based authentication system, no attempt is made to thwart replay attacks
(since there is no expected variation of the “signal” from one presentation to another).
However, in an automated biometric-based authentication system, one can check the liveness
of the entity originating the input signal.
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6. APPLICATIONS
In the last years has considerably increased the area of application of biometrics and it's
expected that in the near future, we will use biometry many times in our dayly activities such
as getting in the car, openning the door of our house, accessing to our bank acount, shoping
by internet, accessing to our PDA, mobil phone, laptops, etc.
Depending of where the biometrics is deployed, the applications can be categorized in the
following five main groups: forensic, government, commercial, health-care and traveling and
immigration. However, some applications are common to these groups such as physical
access, PC/network access, time and attendance, etc.
6.1 FORENSIC
The use of biometric in the law enforcement and forensic is more known and from long date,
it is used mainly for identification of criminals. In particular, the AFIS (automatic fingerprint
identification system) has been used for this purpose.
Lately the facial-scan technology (mug shots) is being also used for identification of suspects.
Another possible application is the verification of persons of home arrest, a voice-scan is an
attractive solution for this problem. The typical application are:
Identification of criminals- collecting the evidence in the scene of crime (e.g.,
fingerprints) it is possible to compare with data of suspects or make a search in the database
of criminals.
Surveillance --using cameras one can monitor the very busy places such as stadiums,
airports, meetings, etc. Looking in the crowds for suspect, based on the face recognition
biometric, using a images (e.g., mug shots) database of wanted persons or criminals. Since the
events of September 11, 2001, the interest in biometric surveillance has increased
dramatically, especially for air travel applications. Currently there are many cameras
monitoring crowds at airports for detecting wanted terrorists.
Corrections -This refers to the treatment of offenders (criminals) through a system of
penal incarceration, rehabilitation, probation, and parole, or the administrative system by
which these are effectuated. Is this cases a biometric system can avoid the possibility of
accidentally releasing the wrong prisoner, or to ensure that people leaving the facilities are
really visitors and not inmates.
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Probation and home arrest - biometric can also be used for post-release programs
(conditional released) to ensure the fulfillment of the probation, parole and home detention
terms.
6.2 GOVERNMENT
There are many application of the biometry in the government sector. An AFIS is the primary
system used for locating duplicates enrolls in benefits systems, electronic voting for local or
national elections, driver's license emission, etc. The typical application are:
National Identification Cards - the idea is to include digital biometric information in the
national identification card. This is the most ambitious biometric program, since the
identification must be performed in a large-scale database, containing hundred of millions
samples, corresponding to the whole population of one country.
This kind of cards can be used for multiple purposes such as controlling the collection of
benefits, avoiding duplicates of voter registration and drivers license emission. All this
applications are primarily based on finger-scan and AFIS technology, however it is possible
that facial-scan and iris-scan technology could be used in the future.
Voter ID and Elections - while the biometric national ID card is still in project, in many
countries are already used the biometry for the control of voting and voter registration for the
national or regional elections. During the registration of voter, the biometric data is captured
and stored in the card and in the database for the later use during the voting. The purpose is to
prevent the duplicate registration and voting.
Driver's licenses - In many countries the driver license is also used as identification
document, therefore it is important to prevent the duplicate emission of the driver license
under different name. With the use of biometric this problem can be eliminated. however it is
important that the data must be shared between state, because in some country such as United
States, the license are controlled at the states as opposed to the federal level.
Benefits Distribution (social service) - the use of biometry in benefits distribution
prevents fraud and abuse of the government benefits programs. Ensuring that the legitimate
recipients have a quick and convenient access to the benefits such as unemployment, health
care and social security benefits.
Employee authentication - The government use of biometric for PC, network, and data
access is also important for security of building and protection of information. Below are
more detailed this kind of applications also used in commercial sector.
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Military programs - the military has long been interested in biometrics and the
technology has enjoyed extensive support from the national security community.
6.3 COMMERCIAL
Banking and financial services represent enormous growth areas for biometric technology,
with many deployments currently functioning and pilot project announced frequently. Some
applications in this sector are:
Account access - The use of biometric for the access to the account in the bank allows to
keep definitive and auditable records of account access by employees and customers. Using
biometry the the customers can access accounts and employees can log into their
workstations.
o ATMs - the use of biometric in the ATM transaction allows more security,
o Expanded Service Kiosks - A more receptive market for biometrics may be special
purpose kiosks, using biometric verification to allow a greater variety of financial transaction
than are currently available though standard ATMs.
o Online banking - Internet based account access is already widely used in many places,
the inclusion of biometric will make more secure this type of transactions from home.
Currently, there are many pilot programs using biometric in home banking.
o Telephony transaction - Voice-scan biometric can be used to make more secure the
telephone-based transactions. In this type of application, when the costumer calls to make a
transaction, a biometric system will authenticate the customer's identity based on his or her
voice with no need of any additional device.
o PC/Network access - The use of biometric log-in to local PCs or remotely through
network increase the security of the overall system keeping more protected the valuable
information.
o Physical access - the biometric is widely used for controlling the access to building or
restricted areas.
o E-commerce - biometric e-commerce is the use of biometrics to verify of identity of
the individual conduction remote transaction for goods or services
o Time and attendance monitoring - In this sector the biometrics is used for controlling
the presence of the individuals in a determine area. For example for controlling the time sheet
of the employees or the presence of students at the classroom
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6.4 HEALTH CARE
The applications in this sector includes the use of biometrics to identify or verify the identity
of individuals interacting with a health-care entity or acting in the capacity of health-care
employee or professional. The main aim of biometrics is to prevent fraud, protect the patient
information and control the sell of pharmaceutical products. Some typical application are:
o PC/Network Access - the biometrics are used to control a secure access of the
employees to the hospital network, primarily, in order to protect the patient information,
o Access to personal information - Using biometrics, the medical patient information
maybe stored on smart card or secure networks, this will enable the access of the patients to
their personal information.
Patient identification - In case of emergency, when a patient does not have identification
document and is unable no communicate, biometric identification may be a good alternative
to identify.
Of all the biometric devices and scanners available today, it is generally conceded that iris
recognition is the most accurate. The automated method of iris recognition is relatively
young, existing in patent since only 1994.
Iris cameras, in general, take a digital photo of the iris pattern and recreating an encrypted
digital template of that pattern. That encrypted template cannot be re-engineered or
reproduced in any sort of visual image. Iris recognition therefore affords the highest level
defence against identity theft, the most rapidly growing crime.
The imaging process involves no lasers or bright lights and authentication is essentially non-
contact. Today's commercial iris cameras use infrared light to illuminate the iris without
causing harm or discomfort to the subject.
The iris is the coloured ring around the pupil of every human being and like a snowflake, no
two are alike. Each are unique in their own way, exhibiting a distinctive pattern that forms
randomly in uterus. The iris is a muscle that regulates the size of the pupil, controlling the
amount of light that enters the eye.
A fingerprint scanner is an electronic device used to capture a digital image of the fingerprint
pattern. This scan is digitally processed to create a biometric template which is stored and
used for matching.
Face detection is used in biometrics, often as a part of (or together with) a facial recognition
system. It is also used in video surveillance, human computer interface and image database
management. A face camera is a webcam with 2 Mpx or above which can take a clear crisp
photograph of the face.
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Figure 7.2 Face Camera
Some recent digital cameras use face detection for autofocus. Also, face detection is useful
for selecting regions of interest in photo slideshows that use a pan-and-scale Ken Burns
effect. That is, the content of a given part of an image is transformed into features, after which
a classifier trained on example faces decides whether that particular region of the image is a
face, or not.
A face model can contain the appearance, shape, and motion of faces. There are several
shapes of faces. Some common ones are oval, rectangle, round, square, heart, and triangle.
Motions include, but not limited to, blinking, raised eyebrows, flared nostrils, wrinkled
forehead, and opened mouth.
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7.6 RETINA SCANNER
7.7 MULTIBIOMETRICS
There are many mature biometric systems available now. Proper design and implementation
ofthe biometric system can indeed increase the overall security. There are numerous
conditionsthat must be taken in account when designing a secure biometric system. First, it is
necessary torealize that biometrics is not secrets. This implies that care should be taken and it
is not secureto generate any cryptographic keys from them. Second, it is necessary to trust the
input deviceand make the communication link secure. Third, the input device needs to be
verified .
Banks and others who have tested biometric-based security on their clientele, however,
say consumers overwhelmingly have a pragmatic response to the technology. Anything that
saves the information-overloaded citizen from having to remember another password or
personal identification number comes as a welcome respite.
Biometrics can address most of the security needs, but at what cost? Surprisingly, the
benefits quickly outweigh the costs. Like so many technological developments, innovative
people have found new ways to implement biometric systems, so prices have come down
dramatically in the last year or two. As prices have come down, the interest level and the
knowledge about how to effectively utilize these systems have increased. So the investment is
decreasing and the recognizable benefits are increasing. Biometrics, when properly
implemented, not only increase security but also often are easier to use and less costly to
administer than the less secure alternatives. Biometrics can’t be forgotten or left at home and
they don’t have to be changed periodically like passwords.
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9. REFERENCE