What
is Biometrics?
Biometrics is the study of measurable physical or biological
characteristics that are unique to each person.
Biometric Security Solutions:
When applied to security and access control situations, biometrics
enable devices to verify and authenticate individual identities.This
reduces the need for additional security personnel, enhances access
hours, and completely eliminates potential for collusion or fraud.
Biometric devices provide the highest-level security.
Are identification and authentication the same?
No. Identification compares one to many, where "authentication"
is a one to one comparison. Identification systems ask, "Who
are you?" Authentication systems ask, "Are you who you
claim to be?" In biometrics, "identification" occurs
when a live biometric - like a fingerprint - is compared electronically
to a database containing many stored fingerprint images and a match
is found.
Types of Biometric Security Solutions
- Facial Recognition
- Iris / Retinal Recognition
- Hand Geometry Recognition
- Fingerprint Recognition
- Voice Recognition
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Any solution which uses the physical or biological
characteristic of an individual for authentication / verification
can be termed as a biometric security solution. There are biometric
solutions based on fingerprint scan, voice scan, retinal / iris
scan, hand geometry scan and facial scan, which are unique to
individuals. Using one or a combination of these, one can track
movement of people, restrict access to high security area, data,
equipment, etc. High-security areas were the first to see the
potential of biometric applications. Biometric applications
will soon be used in almost all our day-to-day activities.
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Why choose fingerprint over another type
of biometric?
Fingerprints provide one of the oldest and most accepted forms
of personal verification; no two fingerprints ever have been
found to be the same. Even identical twins do not have similar
fingerprints. Compared to other biometric systems, fingerprint
authentication is one of the most popular and inexpensive technologies
as it is compact, accurate, reliable and unobtrusive and the
user acceptance level is high. |
Advantages
of fingerprint authentication
Highest
level of security
- Fingerprints are unique to every individual and are ideally
suited for individual authentication. As opposed to other traditional
systems, use of fingerprint authentication system provides the
highest level of security and eliminates recurring costs.
Foolproof security
Since fingerprints are a part of the individual's physical characteristic
it is virtually foolproof and completely eliminates "proxy".
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Ease of use
Unlike passwords, PIN codes or cards, fingerprints are impossible
to lose or forget and they cannot be stolen or misplaced. There
are no passwords or numbers to remember or write down and cannot
be compromised in any manner.
Reduces administrative
costs
No paperwork, procurement costs, simple registration process,
and enhanced ease of access.
Privacy
The fingerprint template can never be reproduced as the user
data is protected by 128-bit encryption in the form of a biometric
template. Only a live fingerprint can be matched against the
existing template. It cannot be decrypted.
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