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| AN OVERVIEW OF BIOMETRICS |
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Identification and verification have long been accomplished by showing something you have, such as a license or a passport. Sometimes it also required something you know, such as a password or a PIN. As we move into a time when we need more secure and accurate measures, we begin to look at using something you are: biometrics. |
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| Definition: |
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Biometrics is the development of statistical and mathematical methods applicable to data analysis problems in the biological sciences.
The term "biometrics" is derived from the Greek words bio (life) and metric (to measure). For our use, biometrics refers to technologies for measuring and analyzing a person's physiological or behavioral characteristics, such as fingerprints, irises, voice patterns, facial patterns, and hand measurements, for identification and verification purposes. |
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| Uses Of Biometrics: |
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Biometrics are used in two major ways: Identification and Verification.
Identification is determining who a person is. It involves taking the measured characteristic and trying to find a match in a database containing records of people and that characteristic. This method can require a large amount of processing power and some time if the database is very large. It is often used in determining the identity of a suspect from crime scene information.
Verification is determining if a person is who they say they are. It involves taking the measured characteristic and comparing it to the previously recorded data for that person. This method requires less processing power and time, and is often used for accessing places or information. |
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| How It Works: |
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Biometric devices consist of a reader or scanning device, software that converts the gathered information into digital form, and a database that stores the biometric data for comparison with previous records. When converting the biometric input, the software identifies specific points of data as match points. The match points are processed using an algorithm into a value that can be compared with biometric data in the database. |
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Bertillonage - measuring body lengths (no longer used) 
