Access Control, Biometrics, and the Future

Abstract

Access control is the process of protecting resources by allowing or rejecting access to particular resources. It is an integral part of physical security systems and protects resources from unauthorized use. Over the past decade, there has been a huge demand and need for more sophisticated and secure access technologies. Scientists are developing cutting edge technologies to fulfill the requirements for secure access control experiences. Access control systems, using the latest biometric technologies such as fingerprint, facial recognition, iris recognition, DNA, and signature recognition have offered a higher level of security than the conventional systems. Biometrics plays a vital role in the identification and authentication phase of access control. Every biometric system has weaknesses and benefits. The system success depends on selecting the proper type of biometric modality to use and understanding how it affects system performance, cost, and limitations. Fingerprint holds the first place according to its popularity but facial recognition and iris recognition continue to grow for its accuracy and are considered as the future of biometric recognition. Besides biometric technology, other future possibilities for secure access control are- mobile access control, cloud-based security, and multi-factor authentication. This paper presents access control components, functions, and types. The aim of the paper is to discuss and analyze the latest biometric access control to secure sensitive information. This paper also provides an overview of access control, discusses the latest biometric technology, and presents the future trend of access control.