Securing online transactions with biometric methods

Abstract

As more and more marketing and retailing is done electronically, the security of online transactions becomes a growing problem. The public media almost daily carry stories of security breaches in firms of all types and sizes, from banks to retailers. If the electronic retail supply chain cannot assure its customers that their transactions will be secure, the growth of this sector will be limited. Traditionally, the primary method of securing access to an online transaction system and its databases has been passwords. Passwords have been widely used because of their simplicity of implementation and use, but are now regarded as providing minimal security. More sophisticated methods based on biometric attributes have been developed. Among them are voice recognition, fingerprint identification and typing recognition methods. We shall describe and discuss the traditional methods, and then biometric methods and their relative advantages and disadvantages in securing online transactions.