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

Chapter 5: Implementing Fingerprint Technology

Take a moment and look at your right index finger. You may have to use a magnifying glass, to view the tiny details we are interested in investigating. Upon close examination, you will see ridges, along with the other tiny details that make your fingerprint distinct. Today, many of us are familiar with using fingerprints to uniquely identify someone. However, using friction ridges, or the raised areas on our fingers and palms, were used for identification long ago by the ancient Chinese. The fact is that everyone's fingerprint is unique, even for identical twins, which makes using our fingerprints as a biometric identifier ideal.

In this chapter, we'll learn about one of the most common biometrics available today. We'll first explore early systems and learn how the Henry Classification System and Vucetich's Comparative Dactyloscopy helped overcome the challenges of examining fingerprints. We'll then review...