Biometric data is used to identify individuals and can be classified as physiological or behavioral. The data should be universal, unique, permanent, and easy to collect. Biometric devices work in verification or identification mode. Concerns about privacy and discrimination exist with large-scale storage of biometric data.
Biometric data refers to records used to uniquely identify people, such as fingerprints. Biometrics is the name given to the various methods of acquiring, storing and using this data. Two primary uses of biometrics include identifying individuals for access control purposes and various applications to address and prevent crime.
The characteristics used for biometric authentication are often classified into two main categories, physiological and behavioral. Physiological biometric data refers to the physical aspects of a person’s body. These include things like fingerprints, retinal scans and facial scans. Behavioral biometrics, sometimes called behavioristics, includes signatures, handwriting analysis, and speech pattern recognition.
In determining which elements of biometric data may be suitable for biometric identification systems, a number of things are usually considered. The data should be universal, i.e. all people should possess the characteristic. It should be unique, so that an individual can be definitively recognized. It should be permanent, i.e. it should be a feature that does not change significantly with age.
Another common consideration is the question of how easy the data item is to collect. Taking a blood sample for DNA analysis, for example, is significantly more invasive and expensive than fingerprinting. Additionally, concerns about the efficiency and accuracy of the technology used to measure biometric data can impact the type of data chosen for a particular application.
Biometric devices tend to work in one of two main ways, verification or identification. In verification mode, biometric technologies perform a one-time comparison of the presented data against a previously archived template. An example of this is a fingerprint scanner on a personal computer or an electronic safe. In identification mode, a biometric database is used. A single data item is then captured and the system tries to match this data with one of the existing items defined in the database. An example of biometric identification is a database of fingerprints of known criminals.
There are some concerns surrounding the area of biometric technologies and the large-scale storage of biometric data. Opponents of biometrics may cite privacy concerns, such as that the data could later be used for purposes an individual hasn’t agreed to, or even that the information could potentially be stolen. Another issue that is sometimes raised is the concern that biometric data repositories could be misused to discriminate against certain sections of the population.
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