Biometric Authentication System - An Overview

What is Biometrics?
There are several techniques that can be applied for verifying and confirming a user's identity. They can be broadly classified as below:

Something the user knows, such as a password or PIN Something the user has, such as a smart card or ATM card Something that's part of the user, such as a fingerprint or iris. The strongest authentication

involves a combination of all three The technology used for identification of a user based on a physical characteristic, such as a fingerprint, iris, face, voice or handwriting is called Biometrics. Advancements in technology has made possible to build rugged and reliable Biometric authentication systems, and the costs of biometrics authentication systems have been dropping as reliability is improving. The key steps involved in a biometric authentication system are:

Image capture - Using scanning devices available in the market Image recognition - Using standard algorithms Template creation - Using standard algorithms Matching - Using application and standard algorithms

Calsoft Labs built a fingerprint authentication system. The broad overview of the system is as shown below:

Fingerprint recognition

Fingerprint recognition is also known as image acquisition. In this part of the process, a user places his or her finger on a scanner. Numerous images of the fingerprint are then captured. It should be noted that during this stage, the goal is to capture images of the center of the fingerprint, which contains many of the unique features. All of the captured images are then converted into black and white images.

Minutiae

The fingerprint is composed of various ridges and valleys which form the basis for the loops, arches, and swirls that one can easily see on his/her fingertip. The ridges and valleys contain different kinds of breaks and discontinuities. These are called minutiae, and it is from these minutiae that the unique features are located and determined. There are two types of minutiae:

Ridge endings (the location where the ridge actually ends) Bifurcations (the location where a single ridge becomes two ridges)

Template Creation

Based upon the unique features found in the minutiae. The location, position, as well as the type and quality of the minutiae are factors taken into consideration in the template creation stage. Each type of fingerprint recognition technology has its own set of algorithms for template creation and matching.
Template Matching

The system will either attempt to verify or identify a individual, by comparing the enrolled template against the verification template. Any application that requires such authentication can be interfaced with Biometrics system using standard API's known as BioAPI or BAPI. These APIs are open-systems standard written in C and it consists a set of function calls to perform basic actions common to all biometric technologies, such as

enroll user authentication discover identity

Security
The image data flow between the client PC and the server requires security and PKI or 3DES has been used for this purpose:

Public-key infrastructure (PKI)

Public-key infrastructure (PKI) is the combination of software, encryption technologies, and services that enables enterprises to protect the security of their communications and business transactions on the Internet. This feature is important when considering the use of PKI in the trusted device model. This model allows trusted devices to accept digital certificates from outside sources and encrypt and sign the data with their own certificates, this is essential for authentication and online transactions.
3DES

3DES is publicly known algorithm that converts binary data to cipher data and cipher data to binary data using the same key. 3DES or Triple Data Encryption Algorithm (TDEA) is FIPS-approved symmetric encryption algorithm (FIPS 46-3), which uses 64 bits (56 bits as key and 8 Bits are used for parity) to encrypt 64-bit block data. Also 3DES uses three keys to encrypt and decrypt data, so effective key length is 168 bits. Calsoft Labs with its vast experience in imaging and streaming data transfer technologies can deliver superior systems involving biometrics initiatives.