Question

Write 1-2 pages long paper explaining the advantages of biometrics in specific industries, such as the medical industry? Where do you see biometrics in the future? Include your references.

Answer 1

Biometrics method of identification is preferred over traditional methods involving passwords and PIN numbers for its accuracy and case sensitiveness. A biometric system is essentially a pattern recognition system which makes a personal identification by determining the authenticity of a specific physiological or behavioral characteristic possessed by the user. An important issue in designing a practical system is to determine how an individual is identified. Every medium of authentication has its own advantages and shortcomings. With the increased use of computers as vehicles of information technology, it is necessary to restrict unauthorized access to or fraudulent use of sensitive/personal data. Biometric techniques being potentially able to augment this restriction are enjoying a renewed interest.

Biometrics refers to the automated recognition of individuals based on their biological and behavioral traits such as;a person’s fingerprints, their face mapping, iris/retina scanning, hand/palm geometry, voice recognition, a person’s handwriting, and their gait. A biometric modality is nothing more than a category of a biometric system depending upon the type of human trait it takes as input. Each biometric modality will fall under one of the three types physiological, behavioral, or a combination of both physiological and behavioral. The traits that will fall under physiological modality are things that have to do with the shape and size of a person’s body and would include such things like; fingerprint recognition, hand/palm geometry recognition, facial recognition, iris/retina recognition, and DNA recognition (Newman, 2010).   Traits that would fall under behavioral modality which are related to changes in a person’s behavior over time and would include things such things like; their gait, the way a person may type on a keyboard, and their handwriting. Traits that would fall under a combination of both modalities which both traits where both physical as well as behavioral changes are used such as in voice recognition where physical traits such as the size, shape, and health of the mouth and lips, vocal cords, nasal cavity along with behavioral changes such as age, health, and emotional state is used(Newman, 2010).  

Though there are advantages of using biometrics such as security there are also some concerns with using biometrics. As with any new technology that identifies human individuality, security is number one, but also equally important is the accuracy of the system. Another concern is how easy is the system to fooled. There is also a concern for biometric information abuse where information can be manipulated or misused. Who owns this information once it is implemented into the system and what does the owner have the right to do with that information. There are also religious concerns related to the use of biometrics such as in the Book of Revelation where it talks about the “Mark of the Beast” (Works, n.d.).

Future of Biometrics:-

"Public acceptance of biometrics has been slow to grow, and will continue to be an issue until issues of privacy and security of data have been brought up to a level acceptable by the majority of people," says Isabelle Moeller, general manager of the Biometrics Institute.

Even though biometrics may be an issue of privacy and security for many people, it is one of the main courses our future is based on. Today, fingerprints are used not only for forensic investigation, but also commonly for passports, ID cards, border surveillance, access control, and even shopping. This will only grow more as people are dependent on convenience, luxury, assistance and fast-paced life. Besides fingerprints, other physiological biometrics include face recognition, iris scan, retina scan, hand geometry, facial thermogram, body odor, hand or finger veins, footprints and palm prints. These methods are being used more and more today and in the future, these methods will only become more advanced and refined

Iris Scanning Iris scanning is becoming more and more popular these days. More building are installing iris detecting sensors for better security. Iris scanning is the most accurate, with an average of approximately 250 distinctive characteristics in an iris; the odds of two people having the same pattern are 1 in 7 billion. And as it is relatively difficult to copy, it's also considered of one the most secure biometrics. So based on the accuracy and the growing popularity of this method

Tongue Scanning:- Another biometric identification system currently under development by Hong Kong Polytechnic University's Biometrics Research Center is tongue scanning. "The tongue shapes of different people are different, and thus the tongue can be used to tell different subjects," says Lei Zhang, assistant professor at the university

Reference

Newman, R. (2010). Security and Access Control Using Biometric Technologies, 1st Edition. [Bookshelf Online]. Retrieved from vitalsource/#/books/9781305178533/

Works, P. B. Authentication technologies. Retrieved December 20, 2016, from Biometrics, biometrics.pbworks/w/page/14811351/Authentication%20technologies#CONCERNSASSOCIATEDWITHBIOMETRICS