What is a biometric? “Biometrics are automated methods of recognizing a person based on a physiological or behavioral characteristic” (FindBiometrics). Typical physiological biometrics include:
• Facial characteristics (Liu & Silverman).
Common behavioral biometrics include:
• Keystroke pattern and gait (Liu & Silverman).
There are two basic applications of biometric technology:
1) Positive identification: To demonstrate I am someone enrolled in the system.
2) Negative identification: To demonstrate I am not someone enrolled in the system.
For positive identification, the user will generally claim an identity by giving a name or an ID number, then submit a biometric measure. That measure is compared to the previously submitted measure to verify that the current user is the
One of the more challenging research areas involves using biometrics for covert surveillance. Using facial and body recognition technologies, researchers hope to use biometrics to automatically identify known suspects entering buildings or traversing crowded security areas such as airports (Liu & Silverman).