Quinn Ebert

Biometrics are technologies that use unique properties of each individual human body (such as fingerprints, facial structures, or voice range patterns) to provide–among other things–automated and authenticated access to computer-run services, entry into computer-secured rooms and building sections, or they can even be used to identify known terrorists (in locations such as airport security checkpoints).  In this discussion post, I intend to analyze the industry-observed merits and drawbacks of these three types of biometric technologies, delve into the issue of privacy concerns regarding biometrics-based airport security systems, and touch on the issue of the accuracy of these various technologies.

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Fingerprint identification is just what it sounds like; for those of us who watch any of those popular TV shows about forensic sciences being used to solve various crimes.  Specifically, in the realm of this course and discussion, however, it is most commonly used as a form of authentication (or protected access) to computer systems, accounts, and automatically-secured restricted areas (say a data room in a large corporation or bank’s main offices).  The inherent advantages of using Fingerprint ID are its long-standing acceptance and use as an accurate method of identifying individual persons (some of the earliest crime-related identifications performed using fingerprints were from the 1800’s).  In fact, the biggest drawback of usage of fingerprints in biometric security are the requirements for consistency in printing (both for “source creation” — when an original fingerprint is registered in a security database, and for “source matching” — when a user tries to authenticate based upon their on-file fingerprint); although, it should be noted that commercial security systems which use fingerprinting are almost always designed to air on the side of caution, opting to reject a match in a case of contention, rather than accepting a match, thereby cutting down almost completely on the possibilities of false identification, authentication, or detainment based upon a match of a poorly-conducted set of fingerprints.  It is because of this set of advantages and control-limited drawbacks that fingerprinting (and related technologies, such as biometric palm-scanning) that these technologies are likely among some of the most widely-adopted biometrics-based security systems today.

Voiceprint identification works based upon the idea that no two individuals’ voices sound exactly the same.  When a user is registered in a system that uses Voiceprint identification, depending on the technology the system uses to identify the person, the user is asked to say either certain words or provide an extended sample of their speech (such as reading a short story or essay) to allow for digital analysis of the properties of their voice.  When the user needs to access secured services, items, or locations via this system, they will then be asked to provide a small sample of their speech (in varying forms, again based upon the security system’s capabilities or configuration).  If their “challenge” (authentication submission) matches the on-file voice, then they will be granted access to the secured services, items, or locations they desire.  This system, while fairly well-utilized in the Information Security field, is not the most reliable of biometrics-based authentication technologies.  For instance, in some less-sensitive (often less-expensive) voiceprint-checking systems, merely having an audio recording of an authorized individual played back to the system can be sufficient to breach security.  Also, it is for reasons such as this that some biometrics-based security systems are “multimodal;” that is, they employ more than one type of biometric scanning, such that all (or two ore more) of the types of authentication offered must pass tests in order for the user to be granted access.

Facial identification (sometimes referred to as Facial recognition or Facial scanning) is a rather-new form of biometrics-based identification that, in most installations, uses computers to analyze the facial structure or appearance of individuals from pictures taken of them.  This biometric information, when stored in a database, can later be accessed for comparison against images taken by digital security cameras, cameras or scanners at a security checkpoint (such as those found at airports), or from other photographic sources.  Unfortunately for the makers of Facial-analysis security systems, it seems, this technology may not yet be ready for prime time.  In one experimental trial in an airport in Florida, for example, results gathered from public-records of these trials by the ACLU indicated that when this system was used to track the movements of 15 airport employees about the Palm Beach International Airport, the systems in-testing failed to find the employees via their security cameras 53% of the time they were tested.  In a situation where this type of technology might be used to protect the lives of innocent citizens (and, especially in a situation where a false identification or arrest might involve the Patriot Act), this kind of dismal failure rate indicates that this technology is not nearly yet well-suited, even for its intended purpose; possibly to be responsible for allowing passage of wanted terrorists, or indefinite detainment of wrongly-accused individuals in a system where inadequate human checks-and-balances and reliance on such inaccurate devices would be quite likely.

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The following web pages were referenced in the writing of this post:

“Introduction to Biometrics” at the web site of The Biometric Consortium
URL: http://www.biometrics.org/introduction.php

“Biometrics: Fingerprint Identification” by Salil Prabhakar and Anil Jain at Michigan State University
URL: http://biometrics.cse.msu.edu/fingerprint.html

“Fingerprints: History and Validity” at Wikipedia
URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerprinting#History_and_validity

“Airport Face Scanner Failed” at Wired.com: The Web Site of Wired Magazine
URL: http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2002/05/52563

“Voiceprints” on HowStuffWorks
URL: http://science.howstuffworks.com/biometrics3.htm