Alshoaibi 10
Biometrics
Introduction
Technology that is advancing at a remarkably rapid pace controls the world we live in today. Most of these technological advancements are meant to make lives easier and safer. With the availability of large-scale computer networks and the increasing concern for identity theft cases, the use of an appropriate personal identification system has become of significant importance. The desired personal identification systems should possess the ability to point out an individual accurately, rapidly, reliably, without invading privacy rights, in a cost effective, user friendly and manage to cope with the changing technology. Biometrics systems form one of the newest technologies that have found a wide use in many areas of people’s daily lives. Biometrics can be explained as a process of measuring an individual’s physiological or behavioral characteristics by determining or verifying their identity. On the other hand, biometrics acts as a barrier between an individual’s personal data and the unauthorized use of that data. A biometric device works by creating a digital template, whereby a database compares this template with an already existing template (Modi 11-13).
The main purpose of this paper is to analyze and discuss the best biometric technology by looking at the aspects of a reputable biometrics technology. Some of the most critical aspects that will be discussed on this essay are cost, accuracy, speed, safety, security, and inputs. The quantitative measurement of human beings for identification purposes was started in 1870s. Some olden means of identifying human beings included measuring the skull diameter or arm and foot length. These methods have ever since improved with the advancing technology up to the current biometric technologies. Since biometric technologies are used in identifying people for safety and security purposes, the selected method should be as effective as possible (Wayman et al 4).
Types of biometric technologies
Biometrics is divided into two main categories. The first category composes of physiological biometrics that is based on data retrieved from directly measuring part of a human body. Good examples of physiological biometrics include iris and facial recognition, fingerprints, and hand geometry. The second category composes of behavioral biometrics that functions through identifying action taken by an individual. This biometrics technologies base their actions and measurements on data derived from behavioral traits of an individual in the database and compares them with those of the individual in question. Examples of behavioral biometrics include speech patterns, keystrokes, and signatures (Modi 16-17). This discussion will analyze the effectiveness of physiological biometric techniques, looking specifically at fingerprint recognition biometric technology.
Which biometric technology is the best?
Researchers worldwide has had a hard task determining which biometric technology best serves the interests of people in terms of cost, speed of operation, safety, and accuracy. As discussed above, the most common automatic identification methods that use biometrics technology are fingerprints, iris, voice, retina, hand, face, and handwriting. The imaging requirements of these methods differ because they use a broad range of characteristics. These systems measure different aspects of human identification. The most common measurement techniques used are single one-dimension signal (like voice identification), single two-dimensional image (fingerprint recognition), multiple two-dimensional measures (hand geometry) and a time series of two-dimensional images (face and iris identification) (Modi 33-37).
After identification of the above types of biometric technologies available, researchers used their qualities to determine which option best suits the aspects shown above. Most biometric technologies share same characteristics, and it becomes hard to determine which one is the best among all. According to their performance and effectiveness, the fingerprint recognition and hand geometry ranks as the best biometric technologies in the world today. The two methods are widely used in most applications today, but finger recognition is the most commonly used due to its low cost and accuracy. Hand geometry requires a complicated system apart from using large equipments although its results are similar to those achieved in fingerprint recognition. This makes fingerprint the best biometric technology to use today (Csongrády and Elena 196-197).
An ideal biometric technology must possess five qualities. These are distinctiveness, robustness, accessibility, availability, and acceptability. The biometric technique in question is a fingerprint recognition technology. In terms of robustness, this is the most robust method that can be used for identification. There is never a single moment that an individual can change his or her fingerprint patterns; also, fingerprints differ in all individuals. Fingerprint recognition process measures robustness by the “false non-match rate” that measures the probability of an image to match the enrollment image. Taking into consideration the iris recognition process, an individual could have an iris similar to another person, and this introduces an issue of identical matches (Modi 25-29).
Secondly, an acceptable biometric technology must be accessible. Fingerprint recognition process is the easiest method to access among all other processes. In addition, electronic sensors easily use fingerprints because they are located openly. Accessibility of a fingerprint recognition process is measured by the system’s ‘throughput rate’. In addition, the system has the ability to process many individual fingerprint patterns at any one given time without a lot of delay. On the other hand, the effectiveness of a biometric process is determined by its availability. Fingerprint recognition process has been used since time immemorial, and it is highly available. Almost every organization today uses this process because of its less complexity and it is readily available (Csongrády and Elena 200-203).
Moreover, the fourth key aspect of fingerprint recognition is distinctiveness. Fingerprint recognition system bears the ability to show significant variation over populations. The system is distinct because it only accepts individual fingerprints and raises an alarm in case it senses a mismatch. Finally, the fingerprint biometric system is readily acceptable. The process is used by many large organizations in recognizing their staff while they enter and leave the company premises. Most people like this system because it is fast, effective and does not require a lot of training to use (Csongrády and Elena 203).
Fingerprint recognition biometric technique
Biometrics technologies that use physiological traits are commonly used in today’s applications because they enhance the security for physical and logical access to systems. Even if most physiological biometric techniques offer many advantages over behavioral techniques, they are still vulnerable to attacks. An individual must decide on the best alternative that has low capability to attack (Wayman et al 13). Fingerprint recognition technology is the best among all other techniques given above. The system is extremely useful in most applications because fingerprints found most primary use as accurate identification methods. Fingerprints are used for identifying an individual because of their uniqueness and consistency over a long period. On the other hand, fingerprint recognition method has been used over decades and as recently been automated because of the advancement in technology. This shows that the method was taken as the most accurate and cost effective over any other identification process. On the other hand, fingerprint recognition process is extremely effective because it is easier to acquire. It also provides numerous sources available for collection (ten fingers) at once (Csongrády and Elena 213-215).
The automated fingerprint recognition technology finds successful use around the globe by both law-enforcing and civilian applications. This biometric system continues to be the dominant method because many identity management and security access applications continue using it because of its proven performance, availability of a variety of databases and its low cost. In addition, it is the only biometric technique accepted in law courts for convicted criminal persecution. In addition, fingerprint recognition technology has been used for an exceedingly long time, and new researches methods have been developed to assist improve the process’s performance and effectiveness. This forms the only biometric system can combine a variety of features without confusing the database. Moreover, the process has the capacity to store millions of fingerprints in the database and perform issues such as distance recognition. Fingerprint identification technique forms a secure and revocable scientifically established process that is unique and poses a challenge to other biometric technologies (Csongrády and Elena 213-214).
How the process works
Fingerprint technology uses various acquisition devices like ink-less methods (senses finger ridges), live-scan fingerprint scanners (optical methods, CMOS capacitance, ultrasound sensing and thermal sensing). Once collected, fingerprints appear in the form of the series of dark lines representing peak for portions of friction ridge skin and the valleys between the ridges appear as white spaces. The technology bases its identification on the direction and location of the ridge endings and splits along ridge paths using three levels. The information collected from a fingerprint’s friction ridge includes the flow of friction ridges that forms the first level of recognition. The second level determines the availability or absence of features on the individual friction lines and the sequences. In addition, the third level analyzes details of a single ridge. The process recognizes an individual based on the first and second levels. Figure 1 shows a representation of a fingerprint identification process (Csongrády and Elena 198).
Figure 1: fingerprint identification process
Fingerprint matching techniques fall under two categories: minutiae and correlation based. Minutiae category works by pointing and mapping its relative placement on the finger. The minutiae approach has trouble hence, is not commonly used. For instance, a system has trouble in extracting the minutiae points especially with low quality fingerprints. In addition, the process fails to take into consideration the global pattern of ridges and furrows. On the other hand, correlation technique uses a precise location of the registration point. Image rotation and translation affects this method but can overcome some difficulties that minutiae cannot (Csongrády and Elena 198-200).
In biometrics, the most crucial terms are identification, recognition and verification. A biometric technology that performs all the three terms effectively is termed as the best (Modi 55). Fingerprint recognition technique performs the three terms making it the most common biometric technique used in most industries today. In comparison with speaker identification method, fingerprint identification possesses many qualities desired of a biometric technology. The speaker identification has shortcomings because someone can imitate another person’s speech and get unwanted authentication. In addition, speaker identification has a problem with misspoken and mislead phrases that make it hard for the system to authenticate a user correctly. Fingerprint recognition avoids all these problems because human fingerprints remain with the same pattern irrespective of age. On the other hand, face recognition process requires a sophisticated software material to implement that makes it get limited use in the society today. Moreover, face identification is prone to errors because some people have similar appearances, example of identical twins (Csongrády and Elena 209-213).
Aspects of fingerprint recognition that makes it the best biometric technology today
Cost effective of fingerprint recognition system
In terms of cost, fingerprint recognition technique is one of the most cost effective biometric methods used today. Fingerprint recognition process identifies a person in a non-repudiated manner. The process enhances user convenience and reduces or eliminates management costs because it provides user-specific provision. These cost benefits make many organizations adopt fingerprint biometrics for identifying their employees. On the other hand, the system uses only three processes to complete user identification. These processes make fingerprint recognition system easier and cheap to design. In general, development of a fingerprint recognition device reduces the cost in the following ways. Firstly, it gets rid of paper card and any other cost associated with cards like ribbons. Secondly, the system helps managers in effectively managing the attendance of their staff members ensuring time effective operations that in return saves most unnecessary costs. On the other hand, fingerprint recognition process forms the only low cost public recognition process that assists in identifying and detecting frauds. Organizations whose employees have been registered in the biometric system records low theft cases because such people have a low probability of committing crimes (Csongrády and Elena 230-231).
Fingerprint recognition devices also save cost because it requires simple software applications unlike iris recognition and retinal scanning techniques that require complicated and expensive software to operate. In addition, the system is extremely economical because it uses simple biometric personal computer user authentication technique that comes at a low cost. On the other hand, the materials used to develop a fingerprint recognition device are readily available and cheap to acquire. Some biometric techniques, for example voice recognition, make use of very complicated materials and hardware that come with high costs of buying and installing. Finally, fingerprint recognition system does not require a lot of experience to install hence technicians charge less compared to other biometric techniques. Most organizations have been competing for the fast growth market for biometric techniques that led into lowering the cost for buying and installing fingerprint recognition. The competition has driven this system down making it a common technology for most security applications (Csongrády and Elena 233).
A clear analysis of fingerprint recognition process shows that it is the cheapest among other biometrics with the technology costing as low as $100. The cost of using iris recognition ranges between $2,000 and $2,500. On the other hand, the cost of using face recognition is approximately $1,000 while hand geometry costs about $500. From the above information, fingerprint recognition technique is the most cost effective and reliable biometric method. In addition, the process is cost effective because once a user’s fingerprints are registered in the database, they maintain there as long as the person is alive. It eliminates costs associated with change of use authentication process like passwords (Csongrády and Elena 234).
Accuracy of fingerprint recognition biometric technique
It being a security system, we need to ask ourselves whether it can be beaten. This question is only answerable if there is a clue as to what the system wishes to achieve and the most valuable thing that requires security. Accuracy forms a vital aspect of a biometric technology because it determines its effectiveness. While most sensitive government computer systems store individual information in forms of name, address, and other valid information, fingerprint recognition process only requires fingerprint patterns for identification. These systems base their identification process on data stored from images. In addition, fingerprint images have the ability to appear in an infinite number of scans for accuracy purposes. The clarity of the image determines the success of searching for a fingerprint match in the database. Fake samples defeat most biometric techniques, for instance a person can use an artificial face for identification in face biometric technology. Fingerprint system is hard to confuse with fake fingerprints because the ridge sensors are extremely sensitive and easily discovers any wrong pattern in the system. The smart card technologies combined with fingerprint recognition process boosts its high levels of accuracy than any other biometric process. Moreover, the uniqueness of fingerprint identification system makes it easier for detection and prevention of copies. The following aspect contrasts this biometric technology from user IDs and passwords that are easier to replicate and use by sophisticated computer programs to gain access (Csongrády and Elena 240-242).