biometrics: Advantages and disadvantages of technologies

COMPARISON of the advantages and dis advantages of biometric technologies

i. What a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h.

are the goodness and weakness about the current technology? Facial recognition: Voice recognition: Signature recognition: DNA: Retinal scanning: Iris recognition: Fingerprint: Hand Geometry:

The following table compares s ome of the biometric s ys tems us ed lately, from the point of view of accuracy, cos t, devices required and s ocial acceptability.

From this comparative table we can deduce that the mos t adequate methodology is the fingerprint authentication.

What are the goodness and weakness about the current technology?
Each one of the Technologies us ed in our days bring us a manner to res trict the acces s to a s ys tem, allowing the entrance only to thos e pers ons who know a s pecific code, own a card or have determined phys ic marks . The more complex is the s ys tem, the mos t difficult is to be attacked, although it will be more expens ive and will require more s oftware and hardware res ources . When a new authentication s ys tem is implanted, it is es s ential a judgement between s implicity, price and efficiency, as well as s ocial acceptability. The pas s word method is the cheapes t and s imples t technology, becaus e it only requires elementary s oftware res ources . On the other hand, this s ys tem is eas ily attackable, s ince he is quite s imple to obtain the data from a pers on, either extracting the information to the pers on its elf us ing deceits , or attacking the s oftware of the s ys tem. For example, it can be eas ily ins talled in the computer, a program that s imulates the us er name and pas s word window, s o that when the us er introduces his data in that window, that will be collected by the Spy program. Immediately after this , it appears the true window, identical, and the us er will s imply believe that he has been mis taken. So, this method, in s pite of being us ually us ed, for example, to acces s banking accounts , is not at all the mos t indicated if we want a s afe s ys tem, and in a s hort-time future is tried to be changed by mos t immune methods . The Smart Cards are very us eful s ince they can be eas ily combined with other authentication s ys tems , s erving as s torage s ys tem. Self-containment of s mart card makes it res is tant to attack as it does not need to depend upon potentially vulnerable external res ources . But its s mall s ize and bend requirements (which are des igned to protect the card phys ically), limits the memory and proces s ing res ources . And us ed like the only identification s ys tem, is not exces s ively trus tworthy, s ince it can be eas ily s tolen, los t or s imply forgotten at home. Bes ides , s ometimes they are combined with cryptography methods , which makes them more difficult (more expens ive) to implement. The Digital Signature is very difficult to fals ify, s ince is encrypted by complicated mathematic operations . It is cons idered that is even les s fals ifiable than the manual s ignature recognition (although this las t is already enough trus tworthy). The advantage that Biometrics pres ents is that the information is unique for each individual and that it can identify the individual in s pite of variations in the time (it does not matter if the firs t biometric s ample was taken year ago).The pillars of e-learning s ecurity are: authentication, privacy (data confidentiality) authorization (acces s control), data integrity and non-

repudiation. Biometric is a technique that can provide all this requirements with quite lot reliability. Although biometrics is cons idered the mos t effective and s afe method (is very difficult to fals ify), we have to bear in mind its dis advantages , for example, that s ince it is a relative new technology, it is not s till integrated in PC, s o IT departments need to make a cons cious decis ion before making the purchas e and change its s tructure. We als o have to cons ider the advantages and dis advantages of each individual s ys tem. In the next paragraphs , we will make an enumeration of the problems that thes e techniques can pres ent:

Facial recognition:
Advantages : a. Non intrus ive b. Cheap technology. Dis advantages a. 2D recognition is affected by changes in lighting, the pers ons hair, the age, and if the pers on wear glas s es . b. Requires camera equipment for us er identification; thus , it is not likely to become popular until mos t PCs include cameras as s tandard equipment.

Voice recognition:
Advantages : a. Non intrus ive. High s ocial acceptability. b. Verification time is about five s econds . c. Cheap technology. Dis advantages : a. A pers ons voice can be eas ily recorded and us ed for unauthoris ed PC or network. b. Low accuracy. c. An illnes s s uch as a cold can change a pers ons voice, making abs olute identification difficult or impos s ible.

Signature recognition:
Advantages : a. Non intrus ive. b. Little time of verification (about five s econds ). c. Cheap technology. Dis advantages : a. Signature verification is des igned to verify s ubjects bas ed on the traits of their unique s ignature. As a res ult, individuals who do not s ign their names in a cons is tent manner may have difficulty enrolling and verifying in s ignature verification. b. Error rate: 1 in 50.

DNA:
Advantages :

a. Very high accuracy. b. It impos s ible that the s ys tem made mis takes . c. It is s tandardized. Dis advantages : a. Extremely intrus ive. b. Very expens ive.

Retinal scanning:
Advantages : a. Very high accuracy. b. There is no known way to replicate a retina. c. The eye from a dead pers on would deteriorate too fas t to be us eful, s o no extra precautions have to been taken with retinal s cans to be s ure the us er is a living human being. Dis advantages : a. Very intrus ive. b. It has the s tigma of cons umer's thinking it is potentially harmful to the eye. c. Comparis ons of template records can take upwards of 10 s econds , depending on the s ize of the databas e. d. Very expens ive.

Iris recognition:
Advantages : a. Very high accuracy. b. Verification time is generally les s than 5 s econds . c. The eye from a dead pers on would deteriorate too fas t to be us eful, s o no extra precautions have to been taken with retinal s cans to be s ure the us er is a living human being. Dis advantages : a. Intrus ive. b. A lot of memory for the data to be s tored. c. Very expens ive

Fingerprint:
Advantages : a. Very high accuracy. b. Is the mos t economical biometric PC us er authentication technique. c. it is one of the mos t developed biometrics d. Eas y to us e. e. Small s torage s pace required for the biometric template, reducing the s ize of the databas e memory required f. It is s tandardized. Dis advantages :

a. For s ome people it is very intrus ive, becaus e is s till related to criminal identification. b. It can make mis takes with the drynes s or dirty of the fingers s kin, as well as with the age (is not appropriate with children, becaus e the s ize of their fingerprint changes quickly). c. Image captured at 500 dots per inch (dpi). Res olution: 8 bits per pixel. A 500 dpi fingerprint image at 8 bits per pixel demands a large memory s pace, 240 Kbytes approximately Compres s ion required (a factor of 10 approximately).

Hand Geometry:
Advantages : a. Though it requires s pecial hardware to us e, it can be eas ily integrated into other devices or s ys tems . b. It has no public attitude problems as it is as s ociated mos t commonly with authorized acces s . c. The amount of data required to uniquely identify a us er in a s ys tem is the s malles t by far, allowing it to be us ed with SmartCards eas ily. Dis advantages : a. Very expens ive b. Cons iderable s ize. c. It is not valid for arthritic pers on, s ince they cannot put the hand on the s canner properly.