Safeguarding the transmission of biometric measurements used for authenticating individuals

Abstract

Various biometric measurements can be used to establish the identity of individuals. Common to many of them is the fact that a significant amount of information is collected and transmitted; this information is then used to compare the captured biometric data with the previously recorded information identifying a particular individual. If the two pieces of information are similar, it is assumed that the identification is carried out correctly. An important problem in this process is the safeguarding of the transmission of the captured information. In many cases, it cannot be assumed that the channel over which this information is transmitted is secure. Therefore it is crucial that the process be viable even if the channel is insecure. We outline an approach that ensures the security and integrity of this process. We demonstrate that this approach is highly effective in that it requires only minimal additional storage capacity and virtually no additional processing capacity to be functional. Support of this research under NSF grants DUE 0313880, SCI 0453498, and OISE 0519316 is acknowledged.