Biometrics - Overview
The term Biometrics is composed of two words − Bio (Greek word for Life) and Metrics (Measurements). Biometrics is a branch of information technology that aims towards establishing one’s identity based on personal traits.
Biometrics is presently a buzzword in the domain of information security as it provides high degree of accuracy in identifying an individual.
What is Biometrics?
Biometrics is a technology used to identify, analyze, and measure an individual’s physical and behavioral characteristics.
Each human being is unique in terms of characteristics, which make him or her different from all others. The physical attributes such as finger prints, color of iris, color of hair, hand geometry, and behavioral characteristics such as tone and accent of speech, signature, or the way of typing keys of computer keyboard etc., make a person stand separate from the rest.
This uniqueness of a person is then used by the biometric systems to −
What is a Biometric System?
A biometric system is a technology which takes an individual’s physiological, behavioral, or both traits as input, analyzes it, and identifies the individual as a genuine or malicious user.
Why Biometrics is Required?
With increasing use of Information Technology in the field of banking, science, medication, etc., there is an immense need to protect the systems and data from unauthorized users.
Biometrics is used for authenticating and authorizing a person. Though these terms are often coupled; they mean different.
Authentication (Identification)
This process tries to find out answer of question, “Are you the same who you are claiming to be?”, or, “Do I know you?” This is one-to-many matching and comparison of a person’s biometrics with the whole database.
Verification
This is the one-to-one process of matching where live sample entered by the candidate is compared with a previously stored template in the database. If both are matching with more than 70% agreeable similarity, then the verification is successful.
Authorization
It is the process of assigning access rights to the authenticated or verified users. It tries to find out the answer for the question, “Are you eligible to have certain rights to access this resource?”
Biometrics is presently a buzzword in the domain of information security as it provides high degree of accuracy in identifying an individual.
What is Biometrics?
Biometrics is a technology used to identify, analyze, and measure an individual’s physical and behavioral characteristics.
Each human being is unique in terms of characteristics, which make him or her different from all others. The physical attributes such as finger prints, color of iris, color of hair, hand geometry, and behavioral characteristics such as tone and accent of speech, signature, or the way of typing keys of computer keyboard etc., make a person stand separate from the rest.
This uniqueness of a person is then used by the biometric systems to −
- Identify and verify a person.
- Authenticate a person to give appropriate rights of system operations.
- Keep the system safe from unethical handling.
What is a Biometric System?
A biometric system is a technology which takes an individual’s physiological, behavioral, or both traits as input, analyzes it, and identifies the individual as a genuine or malicious user.
Why Biometrics is Required?
With increasing use of Information Technology in the field of banking, science, medication, etc., there is an immense need to protect the systems and data from unauthorized users.
Biometrics is used for authenticating and authorizing a person. Though these terms are often coupled; they mean different.
Authentication (Identification)
This process tries to find out answer of question, “Are you the same who you are claiming to be?”, or, “Do I know you?” This is one-to-many matching and comparison of a person’s biometrics with the whole database.
Verification
This is the one-to-one process of matching where live sample entered by the candidate is compared with a previously stored template in the database. If both are matching with more than 70% agreeable similarity, then the verification is successful.
Authorization
It is the process of assigning access rights to the authenticated or verified users. It tries to find out the answer for the question, “Are you eligible to have certain rights to access this resource?”
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