Can I Borrow Your Eye?
An Introduction To Biometrics
How many times have you logged onto a website and forgotten your password? Or had your password stolen or hacked? Better yet, have you created a super long, supposedly unbreakable password you will never remember? Probably a few times at the very least.
But what if there was a way to get rid of these passwords entirely? What if we could use our physical features and behavioral patterns as a form of identification? What if the only way to steal someone’s password was to steal their eye or their finger?
Welcome to the world of biometrics!
The Basics of Biometrics
As defined by the Department of Homeland Security, “Biometrics are unique physical characteristics, such as fingerprints, that can be used for automated recognition.”
Basically, the study of biometrics involves the use of physical or discernable human body traits or actions for the purpose of identification. Many people are familiar with biometric sensors for fingerprints or retinal scans, but there are many other detectable traits that can be used.
Types of Biometrics
Current biometrics can be split into two types: physical and behavioral. Each type can assess different types of characteristics that can be used to verify someone’s identity.
Physical Biometrics
Physical biometrics involve any physiological trait that can separate one person from everyone around them. These indicators are directly tied to the body of the human being analyzed.
Some examples of physical biometric sensors include:
- Fingerprint Recognition: Everyone has a unique fingerprint — even identical twins. These differences can be detected by identifying deltas, ridge endings, and forks in each specific print.
- Facial Recognition: These sensors target specific feature points, like eye location, on the human face. Comparing these nodes to the nodes on a stored print can help determine identity.
- Iris Scan: Every person has a unique iris, which is the colored part of the eye. When closely examined, patterns can be detected in this region, which can serve as a means of identification.
- Vein Recognition: The individual vein pattern of a person can be identified with the use of infrared light. This pattern is consistent from birth to death.
Behavioral Biometrics
Behavioral biometrics involve the use of any detectable pattern in human activity for the purpose of identification. Though these are not as reliable as physical biometrics, since they are susceptible to change with circumstance, they still play an important role.
Some examples of behavioral biometric sensors include:
- Signature Recognition: Analyzing the shape of a signature, any pressure points, the speed at which it is written, and the stroke order can help authenticate a person.
- Keystroke Dynamics: Flight time, the duration of time between releasing one key and pressing another, and dwell time, the time one spends pressing on a key. Using this data can help confirm identity.
- Voice Recognition: Nasal tone, cadence, inflection, and fundamental frequency (number of oscillations per second) are used in the process of speech authentication.
- Walking Style (Gait): Individuals have different walking styles, which can be measured by stride length, relative speed, and posture, as well as many other things. These data points can be used for individual recognition.
The Future of Biometrics
As technology becomes more advanced, the use of biometric identification will grow and become more helpful in a variety of situations.
There is already biometric technology in place to deal with faint and overlapping fingerprints, which have caused roadblocks for detectives for years.
Using mass spectrometry imaging, the software is able to separate the molecules on each print, and correctly create two distinct items. Once this process is complete, the fingerprint can be run through existing databases.
Many companies are already using different types of biometrics for identity verification, including the following:
- BehavioSec: Created software to continuously monitor behavioral biometric signals on an app or website, with no disruption to the user interface.
- Biyo: Enables consumers to pay with their hand, by scanning their vein patterns before every purchase.
- Fujitsu + NTT DoCoMo: Utilizes a camera that scans your iris and compares it to the one on file, which can confirm your phone and mobile wallet logins among other things.
While this technology has widespread use, it is important to understand potential problems that may come up with using the physical features of a person as a means of identification. Some of these concerns include privacy, confidentiality, and the idea that if it is breached once, there is no way to replace it.
With the increased use of biometric identification, we might be able to get rid of the growing pile of passwords that accumulate each and every day.
In a few years, who knows? Maybe the only way to unlock your phone or get into Netflix will be with your finger or your eye.
Key Takeaways
- Biometrics refers to the use of each person’s unique physical and behavioral traits for the purposes of identification.
- Physical biometrics, like fingerprints and iris recognition, do not change over time and are entirely unique to each person.
- Behavioral biometrics, including signature recognition and keystroke dynamics, focus on authentication based on human actions. These are subject to change over time.
- As biometric technology improves, the uses could be much more varied. However, it is important to address concerns of privacy, among other things, before progressing.
