An overview of BIOMETRICS

Before going into detail about biometrics, let us first understand – What is user authentication ?
User Authentication is the process of confirming an individual’s identity, either by verification or identification. This may be carried out by -
- A person recognising a person
- Access control (PC, ATM, mobile phone)
- Physical access control (house, building, area)
- Identification (passport, driving licence)
The term biometrics is derived from the Greek words bio (= life) and metric (= to measure). Biometrics is the measurement and statistical analysis of biological data. In IT, biometrics refers to technologies for measuring and analysing human body characteristics for authentication purposes.
Definition by Biometrics Consortium –
Automatically recognising a person using distinguishing traits.
Biometrics Technologies
- Fingerprint biometrics – fingerprint recognition
- Eye biometrics – iris and retinal scanning
- Face biometrics – face recognition using visible or infrared light (called facial thermography)
- Hand geometry biometrics – also finger geometry
- Signature biometrics – signature recognition
- Voice biometrics – speaker recognition
Other Biometric Methods
- Vein recognition (hand)
- Palmprint
- Gait recognition
- Body odour measurements
- Ear shape
- DNA
- Keystroke dynamics
Static biometric methods - Fingerprint Recognition, Retinal scan, Iris scan, Hand geometry
In the next section, we will be seeing – how biometrics works ?



