Biometrics

• Biometrics can be used as passwords and are based on unique human characteristics
• Fingerprint scans are one of the most developed biometrics techniques, and are easy to use with small storage requirements for biometric data
• However fingerprint scans can be intrusive as it is still related to criminal identification. It can also make errors if the skin is dirty or damaged
• Retina scans have very high accuracy and they are very secure as there is no known way to replicate a persons retina
• However, retina scans are ver intrusive and it is slow to verified a retina scan using stored biometric data. It is also very expensive to install and set up
• Facial recognition is no—intrusive and relatively inexpensive
• Facial recognition can be affected by changes in lighting, the person’s hair, change in age and glasses
• Voice recognition is non-intrusive and verification is very fast, taking less than 5 seconds. It is also relatively inexpensiv.
• A persons voice can be recorded and used for unauthorised access, and voice recognition has low accuracy. Additionally illness, such as a cold, can make absolute identification impossible
• Biometrics is used in door security systems and some mobile phones