Chapter 16: IT Security

The chapter discusses many aspects of IT security. Individual computers and networks are targets of hackers trying to obtain confidential information or just disrupt operation. From the business manager's perspective, taking the necessary steps to protect information is crucial to operations and protecting clients. Biometrics as a security measure allows unique human traits to be incorporated into the security access process. As noted in the related article, these biometric measures can prove to be quite effective but recommended to be used in combination with traditional security passwords, etc.

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Biometrics Security: Thumbs Down?
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Though biometrics are becoming commonplace, the debate rages over whether they're effective.
John Edwards
Security technologies don't get much cooler than biometric devices. Gadgets like fingerprint readers, iris-recognition units and facial-recognition systems possess a high-tech allure that ordinary keypads and smart cards simply can't match. But do sophisticated biometric devices really offer a higher level of protection than traditional security methods?
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Vance Bjorn, for one, thinks so. As the co-founder and CTO of DigitalPersona Inc., a a biometric-systems developer and manufacturer, Bjorn knows the ins and outs of biometric security. "Biometric identification is inherently more secure than passwords and most other commonly used identification methods," he said. "A password, a smart card or your Visa card — anybody could take and use those. But biometrics allows the system to know actually who's using it, with certainty, and that has a lot of applications."
Touch Here
Fingerprint readers are the most widely used biometric devices. They moved into the mainstream several years ago, when manufacturers began building the technology into notebook computers and desktop-computer keyboards, as well as offering stand-alone readers for a variety of security applications.
Bjorn noted that fingerprints have a natural association with identity protection and are widely recognized as a reliable means of identification. "I could show my 90-year-old grandma a fingerprint sensor and she would immediately know what it is," he said. "It's something that people recognize — they've seen it in James Bond movies."Although fingerprint scanning is cheap and generally accurate, it's not as foolproof as some other biometric technologies. Fingerprint readers have been fooled, for example by latex fingers that were molded to reproduce a genuine fingerprint. Some readers have also authenticated fingerprints that were lifted from surfaces with laser printer toner and then reproduced on a photocopier. Another drawback is that some disabled people are unable to use the technology; specifically individuals with no hands or have difficultly moving their arms or hands.
Your Eyes, Your Face ...
The eye is another human feature used by biometric-system developers. Most experts consider iris-recognition systems highly reliable. The technology even surpasses the accuracy of DNA testing, which is intrusive, expensive and inconvenient to use for authentication. When scanned for identification, the iris serves as a kind of "human barcode," a unique pattern created by a tangled meshwork of connective tissue and other visible features. In the entire human population, no two irises are alike in their mathematical detail, even between identical twins and triplets.Iris recognition's biggest disadvantage has been its high price, upward of a thousand dollars for an entry-level system. Also as with fingerprint readers, potential adopters must provide a way for disabled users — people with no irises to scan — to gain access to protected systems.Facial recognition is a biometrics technology that's gaining popularity due to its inherent nonintrusive nature. The technology is so passive, in fact, that people can be scanned without their knowledge. Many casinos and even some police departments use a combination of security cameras and facial-recognition software to match people's faces against databases of known troublemakers.Facial recognition works by isolating the human face and measuring an array of facial characteristics, such as the geometry of a person's eyes, mouth and nose. With the help of a proprietary algorithm, the image is compared to potential database matches.There are limitations to using facial recognition as an access technology, however. While a basic system can be created for only a few hundred dollars, commercial-grade versions are much more expensive, difficult to use in low-light situations and require a significant amount of computing power.
The Bottom Line
If one acknowledges and accommodates their limitations, biometric devices can serve as high-quality protection tools for a wide array of systems, applications and services. Yet most security experts recommend that a biometric device be used in combination with another security technology, such as password-, account-number- or smart-card-based verification.
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Comments
Yes it is true that most older fingerprint based biometric technology can be spoofed, mainly optical readers. These same readers are being sent out to the general population for home biometric use. However, technology from the last 5 years has been able to circumvent the falsities presented in movies about remving body parts to spoof readers. Movies are not reality. Avoid public ignorance and research current technology.
Posted by: Steve, 19:58:49 on 2008-10-30
The bottom line is that a single biometric could be spoofed, by surgery if the prize is worth having. New research suggests that coupling a biometric to something like one's reflexes would be the way forward http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-09/ip-kae090408.php
Posted by: David Bradley, 14:59:06 on 2008-09-04