Book Image

Identity Management with Biometrics

By : Lisa Bock
Book Image

Identity Management with Biometrics

By: Lisa Bock

Overview of this book

Biometric technologies provide a variety of robust and convenient methods to securely identify and authenticate an individual. Unlike a password or smart card, biometrics can identify an attribute that is not only unique to an individual, but also eliminates any possibility of duplication. Identity Management with Biometrics is a solid introduction for anyone who wants to explore biometric techniques, such as fingerprint, iris, voice, palm print, and facial recognition. Starting with an overview of biometrics, you’ll learn the various uses and applications of biometrics in fintech, buildings, border control, and many other fields. You’ll understand the characteristics of an optimal biometric system and then review different types of errors and discover the benefits of multi-factor authentication. You’ll also get to grips with analyzing a biometric system for usability and accuracy and understand the process of implementation, testing, and deployment, along with addressing privacy concerns. The book outlines the importance of protecting biometric data by using encryption and shows you which factors to consider and how to analyze them before investing in biometric technologies. By the end of this book, you’ll be well-versed with a variety of recognition processes and be able to make the right decisions when implementing biometric technologies.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
1
Section 1 –Understanding Biometric Authentication
6
Section 2 – Applying Biometric Technologies
12
Section 3 – Deploying a Large-Scale Biometric System

Using multi-factor authentication

When you need to gain access to a computer system, building, or mobile device, we generally enter our username, and then we must provide a form of authentication, in one of several ways:

  • What you know, such as a password or PIN
  • What you have, such as a smart card or token
  • What you are, such as a fingerprint or iris pattern
  • Where you are, using geolocation and geofencing

While many of us have only ever used one form of authentication, it's becoming more apparent that more than one identifier should be used to validate a user's identity.

In the next section, let's take a look at combining two or more types of authentication to improve the security of a system.

Strengthening a standard login

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is becoming popular, as companies aim to improve the security of their systems. Multi-factor authentication requires two or more ways to authenticate, such as a smart card and PIN...