Saturday, September 25, 2010

Biometrics

Biometrics:
It is technology or method which refers to the automatic identification of person, based on physical or behavioural characteristics or traits where
1.      Physical Traits means related to shape of body which includes fingerprint, face recognition, DNA, Palm print, Hand geometry, Iris recognition etc.
2.      Behavioural Traits related to behaviour of a person which includes typing rhythm, gait, voice also known as ‘Behaviormetrics’.

Biometrics is a better technique than traditionally used technique like smart card, ID, PIN etc. Also it required to be physically present at the point of identification. Biometrics doesn’t required to remember a password or carry a token.
This technique can potentially prevent unauthorised access to ATM , Cellular phones, Laptops & Computer network etc.
Parameters of Biometrics:

1.      Acceptability: Level of approach of technology.
2.      Performance: Accuracy, Speed & Robustness of technology used.
3.      Collectability: Ease of acquisition for measurement.
4.      Circumvention: Ease of use of substitute.
5.      Uniqueness: It separates one individual from other.
6.      Permanence: Measures how well a biometric resists aging & other variances.
7.      Universality: Each Person should have characteristics.
Biometrics System:
1.      First step in this system is the enrolment, where biometric information from individual is stored. This information is stored as a stored template.

2.      As shown in the figure, the 1st blog is Sensor which is acted as interface between system & individual person or world. In this phase, all necessary data have been acquired. Most of it is an image acquisition system.
3.      The 2nd block is pre-processing block, which removes artifacts from the sensors & enhance the input such as background noise or other interrupts.
4.      The 3rd block is feature extractor, this is an important block extracts necessary & correct features.
5.      The 4th block is template generator,  which generate the template from input.
6.      The 5th block is matcher , this block compares the generated template with Stored template. If they matches  then it give access to further process or entry.


The success of a system in performing verification is measured using the metrics below. Successful systems will have high True Positive and True Negative values, a poor system will have high False Positive and False Negative values. Each metric is defined as follows:
·         TP: correctly allow access to an authorised user
·         TN: correctly deny access to an unauthorised user
·         FP: incorrectly allow access to an unauthorised user (FAR)
·         FN: incorrectly deny access to an authorised user (FRR)


Advantages:
·         Increase security - Provide a convenient and low-cost additional tier of security.
·          Reduce fraud by employing hard-to-forge technologies and materials. For e.g.Minimise the opportunity for ID fraud, buddy     punching.
·          Eliminate problems caused by lost IDs or forgotten passwords by using physiological attributes. For e.g. Prevent     unauthorised use of lost, stolen or "borrowed" ID cards.
·           Reduce password administration costs.
·           Replace hard-to-remember passwords which may be shared or observed.

·          Integrate a wide range of biometric solutions and technologies, customer applications and databases into a robust and     scalable control solution for facility and network access
·           Make it possible, automatically, to know WHO did WHAT, WHERE and WHEN!
·          Offer significant cost savings or increasing ROI in areas such as Loss Prevention or Time & Attendance.
·          Unequivocally link an individual to a transaction or event.


Application:
1.      Healthcare Sector.
2.      Finance sector
3.      Bank Sector like in ATM, Credit & debit transaction.
4.      Government Sector like in PAN, Passports etc.
5.      IT Industries such as in DBMS.


Biometrics Products:
1.      Time attendance controller
2.      Access control
3.      PC network security
             UID:
                     UID is good example of the Biometrics. UID is Indian Government's project i.e. Aadhaa.
The system uses three metrics — a photograph, an iris scan and a fingerprint. Contracts have been given to the Accenture, Satyam and L-1.the project is spearheaded by Nandan Nilekeni, one of India's most famous techie-entrepreneurs as the co-founder of Infosys. the millions of India's poor who are without access to the government's plethora of welfare schemes would benefit the most from the new identification system. Much like the mobile telephony, the UID number would connect the poor to the broader and advancing economy of India.

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This article is the topic of unit "IT Trends" from Nagpur University syllabus MBA 3 rd Sem IT  notes.

Topics of this unit are is covered in other blog post. Links are given below.
Topics Covered