NIS03-1: Communications Security: Biometrics over Communications Networks

Abstract

Biometrics is a technology for authenticating a person's unique identity beyond doubt. Existing popular biometric techniques for ID authentication have relied on a person's photograph and/or fingerprints. However, masters of disguise have repeatedly defeated this type of authentication by temporarily or permanently changing face, voice, appearance and other features of a person in order to accomplish an outlawed objective. Recently, as a result of an increased ID fraud, biometric authentication methods have been advanced to include feature extracted from fingertip(s), palm, iris, face, voice, writing, walking, typing and DNA. However, biometric data authentication requires a robust and encrypted mechanism the data of which is transmitted over a communications network. In general, biometric devices may be considered end devices of an access communications network. Such access network must be capable to handle bandwidth with relatively good security assurance; the most popular access networks today is the wireless GSM and the optical fiber to the premises (FTTP). In this paper, we discuss the biometric processes for identity verification, we describe the key authentication processes in the GSM and in the FTTP optical access networks, cryptographic processes that assure data secrecy between the data source and destination, and the ramifications to biometric data authentication.