The science of biometrics has been with us for centuries in the form of signatures, note UK Biometrics.
For over a hundred years police have used fingerprints as a means to positively identify an individual. It was the advent of electronic biometric recognition about ten years ago that changed the plot and ushered in a new era for biometric technology. From the simple on-off biometric switch of ten years ago the industry has developed at an ever increasing pace, to the point that it requires daily research even for industry insiders to keep abreast. With any new technology the myths sometimes seem to overtake the facts, while the facts of five years ago have been superseded by the technology of today.
Early years.
Early biometric systems were relatively crude and susceptible to high error rates. These early devices would operate as a simple on-off switch, verifying or denying identity. The technology relied upon a near perfect fingerprint scan to verify the person presenting was the person registered. But a biometric access system is a security system, so if the system was in any doubt, it would reject the transaction and refuse to open the door or switch.
The cause of this rejection could be as simple as water, grease or paint on the fingerprint, a cut finger or abrasion on the fingertip. As a result, unacceptably high โerror readingsโ were common, that is, the right person was presenting but the system did not recognise them. Another problem with early biometric systems was their susceptibility to โSpoofingโ, that is, producing a latex mould of a fingerprint from which a positive image could be generated to Spoof, or fool the system.
When biometric security was proposed for the House of Commons some years ago an MP asked the question "What if someone cuts off my finger?" To which, at the time, there was no answer. A dead finger would have opened the door as well as a live finger.
But the most prevalent and insidious myth is not one founded in crude, early biometric technology, it is one whipped up by anti-ID lobby groups and is based upon a total misunderstanding of how biometric technology works. โBiometric technology will expose the user to identity theftโ. Last summer a prominent MP and Shadow Spokesman grabbed a headline by branding our industry as "Worse than identity thieves" following the installation of a biometric door lock on a childrenโs nursery in Bath. The theory was that if ID thieves stole your bank details, you could change your bank. But if they stole your fingerprint they had it for life.
No attempt was made to explain precisely how a thief could recreate a fingerprint from the encrypted data held on a modern biometric system, and our offer to explain the technology to the newspapers that ran the story went unheeded. Once more, biometric myth got the headlines while our industry quietly went about its business, educating clients and their end users about biometric fact.
Biometrics today
Today we have moved into โsecond generationโ biometrics with the advent of high definition, โsub dermalโ biometric readers. Multispectral imaging technology simultaneously reads the surface and subsurface of fingerprints to capture clear, clean images every time, even when surface features are absent, coated with paint or hard to distinguish. The new readers are so robust they will operate in any weather conditions, can be power-hosed and even operate underwater. Readers are available that can scan one million stored data sets in one second, thus making them suitable for use in high volume, high security applications. The technology is moving forward so quickly that what was fact two years ago is myth today.
The question asked by the MPโฆ "What if someone cuts off my finger?" In the event of this grisly scenario, a modern biometric reader would recognise that no blood was pumping through the veins and so, deny access. Similarly claims recently made by German hacker group Chaos Computer Club that they had obtained the fingerprints of Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble and would use them to produce a latex โspoofโ fingerprint are simply a publicity stunt. We have tested one multispectral biometric reader with over 20,000 spoof attempts, ranging from the crude to the highly sophisticated. To date, none have succeeded in spoofing the system.
In November 2007 following HM Revenue & Customs loss of 25 million IDโs, Dr Ben Goldacre used his Bad Science column in The Guardian newspaper to launch a scathing attack on biometric technology. Dr. Goldacre quoted Tsutomu Matsumoto, a Japanese mathematician and cryptographer who claimed to have spoofed a biometric system using a latex mold. Significantly the article failed to mention the make or type of system spoofed by the mathematician. More myths from a bygone age? We immediately offered to deliver a modern multispectral reader to Dr. Goldacre or any scientist he cared to nominate, and have them attempt to spoof it. To date our offer has been declined.
While politicians, columnists and lobby groups continue to have fun at the expense of early, crude biometric systems or even quote complete myths, our industry has got on with the job of developing robust, accurate and foolproof systems. Technology which has been welcomed by police, security professionals and industry as the one key that cannot be lost, stolen, hacked, โbuddiedโ or spoofed. We have long since stopped rattling off angry letters to newspapers in response to biometric myth being published as biometric fact.
With daily technology breakthroughs in China, the Far East, USA, Europe and UK to evaluate, our time is spent finding applications for ever more robust and reliable biometrics. The myths surrounding biometrics are gradually fading into the background as writers, business people and the public become educated about biometric facts. And when they do occasionally surface we ask ourselves how many people today believe that traveling at 25 mph in a train will suffocate you. As people believed at the advent of railways.
About firm, author
UK Biometrics Ltd Operations Director Shaun Oakes is responsible for product development and logistics. Shaun has addressed international security seminars. UK Biometrics Ltd is a supplier of fingerprint entry systems, membership systems and time and attendance systems with its head office in Newcastle upon Tyne and regional offices in Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, NW & SW London, Thames Valley, Swansea and Bournemouth.
