26-07-2012, 02:34 PM
Finger Vein Authentication
[attachment=29077]
INTRODUCTION
Biometrics refers to the measurement of biological characteristics unique to each individual for the purposes of verifying identity. These biological characteristics can include the veins in the palm or fingers of the hand, fingerprints, iris patterns or any other parts of the body whose specific patterns are unique to an individual. Biometrics has been employed in a variety of security applications, including door access control to office buildings or research laboratories, immigration control or banks' ATMs, PC or mobile phone login security.
Personal identification technology is used in a wide range of systems for functions such as area access control and logins for PCs and e-commerce systems. Biometric techniques for identifying individuals, which include fingerprint, iris, and face recognition, are attracting attention because conventional techniques such as keys, passwords, and PIN numbers carry the risks of being stolen, lost, or forgotten.
A biometric system using finger-vein patterns, that is, patterns inside the human body, was previously proposed. This system has the advantage of being resistant to forgery. In this system, infrared light is transmitted from the rear of a hand. One finger is placed between the infrared light source and a camera. As haemoglobin in the blood absorbs infrared light, the finger vein patterns are captured as shadow patterns.
Practicality
Obviously, we can propose an authentication process that is as secure as we like, but unless it is also practical then it will never succeed. Practicality and security are often at odds with each other, and any final system will be a trade-off between them. The point at which we are prepared to make the compromise will depend on the value of what we are protecting — the security systems guarding the Crown Jewels would not be practical to implement in the average UK home. Ideally, our chosen biometric should possess characteristics that limit the need for compromise by enhancing both security and practicality. Significant areas of practicality that we should consider are as follows.
ORIGINS
Finger vein recognition technology arose out of Hitachi’s extensive research activities in the area of medical scanning. While studying infant brain activity, researchers found that changes in blood flow could be monitored using high-intensity near-infrared light. As this technology was developed it was found that each individual’s vein pattern is unique, and thus could provide a useful biometric identifier. Further research led to the development of finger vein pattern recognition as a practical biometric authentication technology for the commercial market. After eight years of research and development commercial application of finger vein technology began in 2005 in the form of ATM end-user verification. Finger vein recognition is now in use in 75% of bank branches in Japan making it by far the market-leading biometric technique in that sector.
Finger vein readers are now available in a variety of formats, with devices suitable for both logical control applications such as PC Login and Single Sign On, and physical applications such as door entry control.
Comparison between biometric methods
Accuracy comparison
As discussed above, accuracy of a biometric method is crucial to both its security and practicality. The ideal biometric will rarely reject an authorised individual (low false rejection rate, FRR) and rarely accept an unauthorised individual (low false acceptance rate, FAR).
The International Biometric Group undertakes independent testing of biometric devices and makes the results available. Table 2 compares accuracy results from a number of different biometric methods.
[attachment=29077]
INTRODUCTION
Biometrics refers to the measurement of biological characteristics unique to each individual for the purposes of verifying identity. These biological characteristics can include the veins in the palm or fingers of the hand, fingerprints, iris patterns or any other parts of the body whose specific patterns are unique to an individual. Biometrics has been employed in a variety of security applications, including door access control to office buildings or research laboratories, immigration control or banks' ATMs, PC or mobile phone login security.
Personal identification technology is used in a wide range of systems for functions such as area access control and logins for PCs and e-commerce systems. Biometric techniques for identifying individuals, which include fingerprint, iris, and face recognition, are attracting attention because conventional techniques such as keys, passwords, and PIN numbers carry the risks of being stolen, lost, or forgotten.
A biometric system using finger-vein patterns, that is, patterns inside the human body, was previously proposed. This system has the advantage of being resistant to forgery. In this system, infrared light is transmitted from the rear of a hand. One finger is placed between the infrared light source and a camera. As haemoglobin in the blood absorbs infrared light, the finger vein patterns are captured as shadow patterns.
Practicality
Obviously, we can propose an authentication process that is as secure as we like, but unless it is also practical then it will never succeed. Practicality and security are often at odds with each other, and any final system will be a trade-off between them. The point at which we are prepared to make the compromise will depend on the value of what we are protecting — the security systems guarding the Crown Jewels would not be practical to implement in the average UK home. Ideally, our chosen biometric should possess characteristics that limit the need for compromise by enhancing both security and practicality. Significant areas of practicality that we should consider are as follows.
ORIGINS
Finger vein recognition technology arose out of Hitachi’s extensive research activities in the area of medical scanning. While studying infant brain activity, researchers found that changes in blood flow could be monitored using high-intensity near-infrared light. As this technology was developed it was found that each individual’s vein pattern is unique, and thus could provide a useful biometric identifier. Further research led to the development of finger vein pattern recognition as a practical biometric authentication technology for the commercial market. After eight years of research and development commercial application of finger vein technology began in 2005 in the form of ATM end-user verification. Finger vein recognition is now in use in 75% of bank branches in Japan making it by far the market-leading biometric technique in that sector.
Finger vein readers are now available in a variety of formats, with devices suitable for both logical control applications such as PC Login and Single Sign On, and physical applications such as door entry control.
Comparison between biometric methods
Accuracy comparison
As discussed above, accuracy of a biometric method is crucial to both its security and practicality. The ideal biometric will rarely reject an authorised individual (low false rejection rate, FRR) and rarely accept an unauthorised individual (low false acceptance rate, FAR).
The International Biometric Group undertakes independent testing of biometric devices and makes the results available. Table 2 compares accuracy results from a number of different biometric methods.