What is Biometric Authentication and what are the different types of Biometric Authentication?

by | Mar 9, 2017 | CCNA, CCNP, CompTIA, Data Breaches and Prevention, End Point Protection, Information Security, Privacy, Securing Authentication

Authentication using passwords and PINs are no longer considered to be safe. We have seen a couple of recent incidences of data breaches where user data is compromised and exploited for even further attacks. Two-factor authentication is one option of addressing the problem. But, that also cannot be considered to be secure enough. A two-factor authentication system also can be compromised. We need some authentication mechanism in which the authentication data can be provided by the individual only and cannot be tampered with. And, that is the primary motivation behind using the biometric system.

 

What is Biometric Authentication?

The word “biometrics” is derived from the Greek word “bio,” which means life and “metric” which means to measure. Biometrics refers to the automatic identification of a person based on his or her unique physiological or behavioral characteristics, such as fingerprints, voice patterns, iris, keystroke rhythm, etc. These characteristics are unique to every individual and cannot be tampered easily. And, in a biometric authentication system, these characteristics are widely used for authentication purposes.

 

History of Biometrics

The history of biometrics dates back to 1870, with the measurement system of Alphonse Bertillon. In this measurement system, human body measurements such as skull diameter, arm, and foot length, etc. used to be used to identify a person uniquely. Until the 1920s, this system used to be used for identifying prisoners.

Later in the 1960s, identification through fingerprints and facial measurements was proposed. In the 1960s, the techniques of digital signal processing were developed, and that enabled convenient processing and storing of the biometric data. And, that led to the identification of individuals in an automated way.

Voice and fingerprints recognition systems were later developed, and their applications included high-security access control, personal locks, and authentication of financial transactions since the 1960s.

Later, the biometric systems based on face recognition and iris recognition were developed. And, today biometric systems based on fingerprints and face recognition, iris pattern recognition, or keystroke rhythm and voice recognition are widely used.

 

Why do we use Biometric Authentication?

There are several reasons for which biometrics are supposed to be reliable enough for …

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Amrita Mitra

Author

Ms. Amrita Mitra is an author, who has authored the books “Cryptography And Public Key Infrastructure“, “Web Application Vulnerabilities And Prevention“, “A Guide To Cyber Security” and “Phishing: Detection, Analysis And Prevention“. She is also the founder of Asigosec Technologies, the company that owns The Security Buddy.

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