Finger-Print Technology

Tired of trying to remember separate passwords for your laptop, desktop, and PDA? If so, the answer to your security problems could be at the tips of your fingers--literally. While we are experiencing many advantages of finger-print technology, the associated security issues are also attracting increasing concerns. Finger-print identification has become an important research topic because of these increasing concerns. An efficient fingerprint identification algorithm is based on minutiae and invariant moment where the raw fingerprint image is first enhanced by the Short-time Fourier Transform (STFT). After that, the fingerprint minutiae can be extracted, and selected as the center of region of interest (ROI), according to morphological transformation. Finally, a metric called cosine similarity among invariant moments is utilized to judge the similarities between fingerprint objects in the procedure of identification. Finger-Print Technology is used by many companies in various applications, such as smart fingerprint lock, intelligent community management information system, and automation control of home appliances. Many companies and individuals have welcomed the security that biometric fingerprint readers offer. But as great as the technology may seem, be warned: Not all fingerprint readers--or their authentication access software--are created equal.

Greg Chevalier is vice president of sales and partners for CryptoMetrics, a provider of biometric devices and software to private companies and government agencies worldwide. The company's FingerSURE fingerprint recognition products protect computer systems and sensitive data by requiring users to authenticate their identity via fingerprint analysis. FingerSURE uses public-key technology for the secure transfer and storage of personal privacy information, data, and user credentials.

Fingerprint readers come in two types: trusted and nontrusted. "The most secure biometric reader is the trusted device," said Chevalier. " This is because the trusted fingerprint reader has a fingerprint template--which is a numerical representation of the fingerprint--that never leaves it. The trusted device is capable of storing the fingerprint and matching the template for the fingerprint with the technology that is on the device. From here, the device is able to communicate to the biometric authentication software a simple 'yes' or 'no' as to whether the person trying to gain access is a match. CryptoMetrics' FingerSURE product is an example of this software." On the other hand, a non-trusted device captures the fingerprint template and sends it through a USB connection to the application authentication software, which then compares the template to the fingerprint and either grants or denies access.

With the advancements in finger-print technology, the need to reduce instances of fraud as well as to provide secured access to physical and logical assets have made fingerprint biometrics a very popular and widely used technology.

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