Biometry is getting closer

Biometrics quickly entered our daily lives: millions of people use fingerprints to unlock their mobile devices, withdraw cash through ATMs and identification. The massive adoption of technology is also stimulating the growing demand for biometric identification at the entrance to the premises and ensuring cyber security throughout the enterprise. Thanks to biometrics, such applications combine convenience and security, while at the same time providing reliable identity verification, linking it with the presence of an identification card or mobile identifier on a smartphone.

Biometrics authenticate the user through multi-factor authentication: checking what the user has and who he is.

Biometrics at the door

To use biometric data at the entrance to the premises of the industry, it was necessary to solve a number of problems. The largest was the environment for working with biometric solutions. In the real world, people usually have wet, dirty, oily, dry or worn fingers, which makes it difficult to read fingerprints. As a result, earlier biometric physical access control solutions often had a lower security threshold because the poor quality of their image processing technology led to false fingerprint rejections, which created long lines at the entrance to the room.
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The latest solutions for fingerprint readers / controllers solve this problem, providing fingerprint capture accuracy of up to 99.9%. This increases the recognition speed and overall performance, regardless of the conditions. This level of reliability, combined with safety and convenience, arouses interest in the implementation of biometrics in applications for controlling physical access.

The environment is not the only problem facing the use of biometrics in access control applications. Many fingerprint recognition technologies are vulnerable to tampering and hacking, which allows fraudsters to create fake fingerprints. The previous generation solutions also had a low fingerprint processing speed compared to using a simple ID card and reader. In addition, there were significant performance differences between the available fingerprint recognition technologies.

Key developments in biometrics eliminate these problems:
Improving image capture quality. Image quality is critical for all types of fingerprints: in both children and the elderly, in cold, dry, dirty and humid conditions. To solve these problems, organizations are increasingly choosing sensors that use a multispectral image that optimizes recognition quality by illuminating the skin at different depths. This allows the sensor to collect information from within the finger to increase the number of available data from the surface of the fingerprint. Data is collected even in poor contact with the sensor due to difficult environmental conditions, such as contamination of water or fingers. It has been proven that multispectral sensors are suitable for a wide range of people with normal, wet, dry or damaged fingers in various conditions, in the presence of lotions or grease, in sunlight or in wet and cold conditions. Sensors are also resistant to damage by aggressive cleaning agents or dirt and sunlight.

Multispectral technology scans not only the surface, but also internal
layers of skin providing unmatched print protection and comfort
in use.

Checking whether the prints belong to a living person. Even when the fingerprints are taken correctly, if they are a fake or other artificial copy, the system cannot be trusted. For this reason, fingerprint authentication, including their affiliation with a living person, is becoming increasingly popular functionality in commercial applications. Although the detection of vitality is crucial in biometric authentication systems, the presence of this function should not reduce performance or lead to excessive false failures. The most reliable multispectral fingerprint sensors with recognition function allow you to determine in real time whether the biometric data received by the reader is genuine and provided by legitimate owners, not scammers. To realize this feature, image capture using various colors or a light spectrum is used to measure surface and subsurface fingerprint data. In addition to this optical system, the biometric sensor has several key components, including an integrated processor that analyzes raw image data. This helps to ensure that the sample is a genuine human finger, not artificial or fake material. In order for the solution to quickly adapt and respond to new threats and methods of falsifying fingerprints, advanced machine learning methods are used. This is especially important if only biometric identification is used, without PIN codes and passwords. This technology also ensures confidentiality: even if attackers really get someone’s fingerprint data, they will not be able to use it under any circumstances.

Optimized performance. The most effective solutions collect suitable biometric data for each user on the first try and accelerate the process of checking vitality. They quickly perform pattern matching to deny entry to "impostors." Such systems should be tested by qualified and independent third parties, such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), for interoperability: their performance should be based on data that can be trusted in all modes comparing a sample to a template.
However, performance alone is not enough - not only performance is important in the system, but also reliability. Next-generation solutions deliver reliable performance by utilizing the NIST-certified MINEX III top-class algorithm to interoperate with industry standardized fingerprint template databases in all pattern matching modes. This includes the “pattern on card” and “card / mobile phone + finger” modes using “1: 1” pattern matching profiles, as well as the “pattern on device” mode for fingerprint authentication with “1: N” mapping only . Ensuring this level of interoperability ensures that modern systems based on much more powerful hardware than in the past will perform accurate 1: N identification on a complete database in less than a second, which significantly reduces the delays and queues that users often encounter early biometric solutions.

Best practices for using biometric data

Today, organizations can easily move from using traditional readers to complete biometric solutions, however, it is advisable to adhere to some important recommendations. Biometric data must be part of a robust access control system designed to ensure accessibility and protection of data in a connected environment. The platform should use credential technology, which uses encryption to prevent attacks such as Man in the middle, and also protects the biometric database and identifier software infrastructure of any form factor for reliable access to doors, IT networks and beyond their limits.

For example, the HID Global iCLASS SE RB25F fingerprint reader / controller includes Seos technology and a secure, trusted platform that enables the user to access from a mobile device. Its multispectral sensor includes a viability detector, which allows real-time verification of the authenticity of the fingerprint, while providing excellent protection against substitute materials. The solution also comes with a “finger touch” function, as well as a built-in optical tamper switch that automatically sends alerts when an attempt is made to remove a device.

Thanks to modern solutions, system management is simplified by using network managers of readers who are responsible for all settings and management of readers / controllers, supporting fingerprint registration for 1: 2 verification and 1: N authentication modes. The solution should include the ability to remotely control all readers and by users, as well as actions to download and register authentication mode templates. Modern tools can be used as stand-alone applications or interact with other access control and time tracking platforms, allowing system administrators to manage all configuration settings: from time and data to language, security and synchronization. They also provide continuous monitoring of authentication, alerts and system health in real time.

To simplify the deployment of biometric authentication solutions, APIs must be available that provide direct integration with access control infrastructure. Including to support various system architectures. Solutions must also support a variety of industry standard technologies, including iCLASSSeos, iCLASS SE, iCLASS, MIFARE DESFire, MIFARE Classic, and virtual credentials such as HID Mobile Access.

It is imperative that biometric data is processed as all confidential and identifying information. A properly designed system always takes into account protection against both internal and external threats and attacks. In addition to encrypting the data itself, there are currently many alternatives for building highly secure and well-protected systems that support multi-factor and even multi-mode authentication, even if some credentials are compromised. All readers / controllers must also have a “finger-coercion” function, as well as built-in optical anti-tamper protection with automatic notification in the event of an attempt to remove the device.

The environmental design of the reader / controller is important. In addition to the built-in vandal proof, all devices must be weatherproof so that they can be installed indoors or outdoors. Features that support rapid deployment can reduce installation time to a few minutes.

Early adherents

There are several applications that provide the safety and convenience of biometrics technology. An example is educational and medical institutions, in which it is extremely important to limit the ability of users to use other people's cards and use it to gain access to closed places and / or privileged information resources. For authentication, the human factor is included in the solution, combining something that the user “has” with what the user “has” or “knows”.

In healthcare facilities, the ability to identify people with 100% accuracy is especially important, as healthcare providers have access to patient records that can be used to correctly diagnose and treat them. The inclusion of a viability detector in these biometric solutions will provide healthcare organizations with, for example, a guarantee that they can not be afraid that someone will compromise the system and gain access with a fake fingerprint.

On the campus, biometric solutions will play an increasingly important role in preventing the unauthorized use of data or access to secure campus locations, as well as eliminating errors or fraudulent manipulations with attendance monitoring, library management, and other systems. In this case, the detection of vital functions will also play an important role, ensuring that the thief will not be able to steal and use someone’s ID on the campus, for example, to gain unauthorized access to a person’s dormitory room or to fraudulently purchase food in the dining room using his account .

In these and similar applications, biometric solutions provide a higher degree of confidence in who enters the hostel, classroom, hospital, and other restricted areas. In these and other applications, it is not enough just to have an identity card, and this requires the ability to verify the identity of the person using biometrics. This should be done in such a way that any person can be identified or verified regardless of skin condition, at any point of authentication, regardless of environmental conditions without the risk of false denials of users that slow down access.

Biometric identification technologies for door access control will improve as their popularity grows. Development companies are actively investing in the development of this market. An example is the acquisition by HID Global of Lumidigm, a developer of multi-spectral imaging fingerprint sensors and viability detectors, as well as Crossmatch, whose products have become part of biometric identification management solutions for civil, defense and commercial applications, as well as robust multi-factor authentication. Modern fingerprint authentication solutions are developing fast enough, providing a combination of ease of use and higher security. They combine improvements in viability detector, system architectures and reliable performance to provide secure and convenient access to tools, networks and services using unique fingerprints that cannot be forgotten, lost or stolen.