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A Brief introduction to "Biometrics"
The original terms was first coined to designate
the development of mathematical and statistical methods applicable
to data analysis within biological sciences. An example of how the
term was first used was the analysis of data from agricultural field
experiments to compare the yields of different varieties of wheat
or the analysis of data from human clinical trials evaluating the
relative effectiveness of competing therapies for disease.
Such examples would fall under the umbrella of "Biometrics"
as the term has been historically used. Nevertheless nowadays the
term Biometrics has also been used to refer to the emerging field
of technology devoted to identification of individuals using biological
traits. Here Biometrics are understood as automated methods of recognizing
a person based on a physiological or behavioural characteristic.
Among the features measured are; face, fingerprints, hand geometry,
handwriting, iris, retinal, vein, and voice.
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Biometrics and Database Security
A we have mentioned earlier Biometric technologies,
in the current use of the term, are becoming the foundation of an
extensive array of highly secure identification and personal verification
solutions, most of them based on complex database systems. As the
level of security breaches and transaction fraud increases, the
need for highly secure identification and personal verification
technologies is becoming apparent.
Biometric-based solutions are able to provide for
confidential financial transactions and personal data privacy. The
need for biometrics can be found everywhere from local governments
to commercial applications.
Such applications are the most relevant to the current
article. Commercial biometric solutions, vertical products, could
be required in many field such as: Enterprise-wide network security
infrastructures, government IDs, secure electronic banking, investing
and other financial transactions, retail sales, law enforcement,
health and social services, etc etc..
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Database systems and biometric hardware
Biometric-based authentication applications include
workstation, network, and domain access, single sign-on, application
logon, data protection, remote access to resources, transaction
security and Web security.
From a pure psychological point of view and at a
personal level, trust in these electronic transactions is essential
as the global economy grows into a super-structure of multiple virtual
connections moving money and taking place at the speed of light.
It is within this "Matrix" were a infallible verification
system is needed to continue with the frantic growth of the global
economy.
Utilized alone or integrated with databases and other
related technologies such as smart cards, encryption keys and digital
signatures, biometrics are set to pervade nearly all aspects of
our daily lives. Utilizing biometrics for personal authentication
is becoming convenient and considerably more accurate than some
other "old fashion" methods such as passwords or PINs.
Biometrics Will links the event to a particular
individual (a password or token may be used by someone other than
the authorized user). It is the only feasible method of establishing
a secure link between a subject, the person who is interacting with
the biometric hardware, and the object, the hardware itself. There
is no need to remember arcane number here as the only proof of authentication
it is actually built-in in our biological machinery. Issues about
a fear to a "Orwellian " society has been arisen by some,
as biometrics could been seen like another brick in the global world
of the Big Brother.
Leaving such issues for qualified people in the fields
of sociology and politics, let us focus on how you could start developing
a secure database system with biometric integration thanks to our
inexpensive and easy to use pieces of hardware. The best way of
start learning about a new technology is being able to use it readily
straightaway. Just a few years ago, biometric system were extremely
expensive and only used either in the military circles. Nowadays
as biometrics continue to develop and grow, technology has become
attractively inexpensive.
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Some of our Biometric
Solutions
Dowrick Database Engineers in partnership with Productive
Computing, Inc. introduce Biometrics for FileMaker!
Our Fingerprint Plug-in and Fingerprint sensor hardware
combination is the first and only Biometrics solution compatible
with FileMaker. This Will surely revolutionize security and data
integrity of your FileMaker databases.
No more lost or compromised passwords. No question
about which user was actually logged on to your database! Using
our FileMaker Plug-in and a state of the art biometric fingerprint
sensor, you can now communicate with your FileMaker database.
In the hands of some of you clever FileMaker Developers,
the possibilities are endless. Setup is easy with a compact USB
device, Windows Drivers, and a plug-in. We provide fully functional
demos with scripts and examples to get you started. You assign a
FileMaker ID (any alpha numeric key you're probably already using)
to the unique fingerprint profile which is captured at user enrolment.
Thereafter, our hardware and software combination
Will enable you to check users in either of two ways:
1) Verification: the user enters their ID and places
their finger on the device to prove it;
2) Identification: the user places their finger on
the reader and our software searches enrolled records to return
to FileMaker the ID which matches that fingerprint. Network installations
are supported with a central fingerprint registry with multiple
workstations each having a finger print sensor.
Sadly at this time, only Windows machines with USB
capability are supported. Operation under Windows 98SE and later,
including XP and 2003 are supported with FileMaker 4.0 and later.
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Technical Note: This solution uses a state of the
art biometric fingerprint sensor. This solid state non-optical reader
measures capacitance between ridges in a fingerprint to determine
minutia points and reduces these to an encoded 256 character unique
string which is associated with a developer defined alpha-numeric
ID exchanged with FileMaker Pro.
For those concerned with workplace privacy issues,
please note that we do not store the fingerprint image, and it cannot
be recreated from the encoded string we do store. The encoding process
is a one-way function.
To learn more about how our biometric products interact
with FileMaker Click Here
To see some screen shots of the Biometric Reader
Click Here
If you have found our brief essay on Biometrics interesting
and you would like to more about the standards, activities, government
and industry organizations and research initiatives on biometrics
you may like to visit the following web sites:
Bulletin on Biometrics: http://www.itl.nist.gov/lab/bulletns/bltnmay01.htm
NIST Biometrics Resource: http://www.nist.gov/biometrics
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