More and more organizations are turning to the science of Biometrics for some solution to their security problems. So, because today it is so tied in with technology people think that biometrics has only been around for ten or twenty years! WRONG! Biometrics originally was the study of biological communities - to put it in to everyday English that would be things like, for example, a forest. The word comes from Greek. Bios means “life” and metron means “measure”. So, biometrics was originally the measuring of life. Today however, most people would define it as a system to recognize humans from each other using physical traits (such as face, eyes and handprints). Some more in the know would also add that it is a systems that can recognize people from how they behave (computer activity - how people type is an example!) though this is slowly becoming more formally known as behaviometrics.
Why have biometrics? For a start, have you ever forgotten your password to get in to a computer system, whether it is your own at home or one at work? Or has your work been accessed by an unauthorized person because you password was easy to guess - the name of your boy friend or your date of birth, for example? If your fingerprint was taken by your employer and this was used to access the company system that would cancel out the need for a password as no one else has your fingerprint.
The image below shows the main area of biometrics.
The physiological side of biometrics is related to the shape of the body - or parts of it. By far the oldest system is fingerprints, which have been in use by police forces for over a hundred years. Other examples would be the shape of the hand, recognition of the iris. The most modern form is DNA - the British police force, for example, has a DNA database with over four million records. It is becoming widespread in catching criminals.
The second side of biometrics is behavioural which includes things such as your signature. A lot can be learned about you from your signature, but the important thing is that everyone has one that is unique. The way you use your keyboard is also unique. You might think that voice recognition should be classified under the physiological side of biometrics but it is based mostly on the WAY that a person speaks and so is classified as part of your behaviour.
These are the main forms of biometrics being developed today, but there are others! These include the way that you walk, the veins in your hand, the prints of your palms and even the way you smell!
There are a number of concerns about biometric systems and foremost among them is that they can be compromised just as traditional security systems can be compromised. So, for example, you may have your iris scan on your passport and your passport is stolen. Does that mean your biometric iris details are compromised for good? Not really, as biometrics are based on matching. In other words, your iris details would be scanned at the airport “live” and matched up with a record on the database. The only way that a thief could use your iris to get through security at an airport is if they plucked your eyes out and had theirs replaced with yours through surgery. And that is not possible at the moment!
However! Car thieves in South East Asia cut off the finger of a man who used a biometric device (for his fingerprint) which allowed him access to his car (in this case a Mercedes Benz). The result - a rich guy with one less finger and no car. This actually happened in 2005.
Another concern is for privacy. One your biometric details have been collected, how can they be protected? This is such a concern that some countries, such as Australia, have introduced a Privacy Code to protect consumer data. In the UK the question must be asked - should the Data Protection Act be updated to include biometrics?
