iTnews
  • Home
  • News
  • Technology
  • Security

US report casts doubt on "reliable" biometric systems

By Eric Doyle on Oct 1, 2010 6:55AM
US report casts doubt on "reliable" biometric systems

Back to the drawing board for security designers.

The reliability, accuracy and scalability of biometric security systems has been called into question by a scathing report from The National Research Council (NRC) in the US.

The “Biometric Recognition: Challenges and Opportunities” report has scotched the myth that biometrics are trustworthy and secure, describing them as “inherently fallible”.

Although the results have created a stir in the security world, the report was produced as a scholarly overview of the science behind biometrics. Its conclusion that no single biometric trait has been identified as stable or distinctive has placed doubt about the reliability of fingerprint, iris patterns, voice recognition and facial recognition systems.

NRC assembled a panel chaired by Joseph Pato, a distinguished scientist at HP Labs. The rest of the membership was drawn from industry, academia and the analyst community.

“While there are lots of good uses for biometric recognition, there are lots of ways to create systems that waste time, cost too much and don’t work very well,” said panel member Bob Blakley, a research vice president at analyst firm Gartner.

The news will come as further ammunition for the UK Government. The coalition halted plans for an autumn 2010 introduction of “second generation” passports that would have included fingerprint records.

Its argument was the need to cut costs but now the report would support an argument that it represented a bad return on investment.

The NRC report cautioned that basic research into the reliability of the physical characteristics has been ignored. These characteristics change with age, illness, stress and other factors.

"Bolstering the science is essential to gain a complete understanding of the strengths and limitations of these systems," Pato explained.

Biometric systems provide "probabilistic results", the report said, by which it meant that confidence in the results must be tempered by an understanding of these inherent uncertainties. Furthermore, variable results have stemmed from technical issues regarding the calibration of sensors, degradation of data, and fraudulent entries made through security breaches.

Deployment of biometric screening devices at airports and other checkpoints without understanding the biology or the population being screened would lead to long queues, delays caused by false positives and missed opportunities to catch criminals or terrorists, the report concludes.

This article originally appeared at itpro.co.uk

Got a news tip for our journalists? Share it with us anonymously here.
Copyright © ITPro, Dennis Publishing
Tags:
biometricfingerprintnrcrecognitionreportsecurity

Partner Content

How to turn digital complexity into competitive advantage
Promoted Content How to turn digital complexity into competitive advantage
Why rethinking your CMS is crucial for customer retention
Promoted Content Why rethinking your CMS is crucial for customer retention
Avoiding CAPEX by making on-premise IT more cloud-like
Promoted Content Avoiding CAPEX by making on-premise IT more cloud-like
The Great Resignation has intensified insider security threats
Promoted Content The Great Resignation has intensified insider security threats

Sponsored Whitepapers

Extracting the value of data using Unified Observability
Extracting the value of data using Unified Observability
Planning before the breach: You can’t protect what you can’t see
Planning before the breach: You can’t protect what you can’t see
Beyond FTP: Securing and Managing File Transfers
Beyond FTP: Securing and Managing File Transfers
NextGen Security Operations: A Roadmap for the Future
NextGen Security Operations: A Roadmap for the Future
Video: Watch Juniper talk about its Aston Martin partnership
Video: Watch Juniper talk about its Aston Martin partnership

Events

  • Micro Focus Information Management & Governance (IM&G) Forum 2022
  • CRN Channel Meets: CyberSecurity Live Event
  • IoT Insights: Secure By Design for manufacturing
  • Cyber Security for Government Summit
  • Forrester Technology & Innovation Asia Pacific 2022
By Eric Doyle
Oct 1 2010
6:55AM
0 Comments

Related Articles

  • The Good Guys pauses facial recognition trial
  • Australian retailers named in facial recognition complaint
  • Facebook will shut down facial recognition system
  • GitLab races out vulnerability-fix release
Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Share on Whatsapp Email A Friend

Most Read Articles

PayTo rollout kicks off

PayTo rollout kicks off

Australia scraps digital passenger cards for international arrivals

Australia scraps digital passenger cards for international arrivals

Neobank Volt exits the banking industry

Neobank Volt exits the banking industry

Optus brands Telstra-TPG deal 'uniquely one-sided'

Optus brands Telstra-TPG deal 'uniquely one-sided'

Digital Nation

Case study: AFL kicks goals with its new digital platform
Case study: AFL kicks goals with its new digital platform
Personalisation strategies need to be built from the ground up
Personalisation strategies need to be built from the ground up
Case Study: Good360 deploys NetSuite, Magento and Salesforce
Case Study: Good360 deploys NetSuite, Magento and Salesforce
Case Study: EY invests in AI to improve approach to flexible working
Case Study: EY invests in AI to improve approach to flexible working
Case Study: Multicloud business drivers at MLC Life Insurance
Case Study: Multicloud business drivers at MLC Life Insurance
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in any form without prior authorisation.
Your use of this website constitutes acceptance of nextmedia's Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.