BiometricPIN™
Traditionally we are identified by a signature, User ID and password or smart card and PIN. These identifiers are often written down and, once seen, can be copied.
Biometrics is being used to ensure people are who they say they are, (my fingerprint is part of me and can only be entered by me). However the problem for biometrics is that a hacker can lift a biometric identifier, like a fingerprint, and represent it as you.
Applied Biometrics Ltd has patented the BiometricPIN™ to uniquely identify an individual using a biometric sequence. It requires the individual to be identified through a sequence of fingerprints, presented in an order known only to that person.
This significantly enhances security by introducing a secret element, the sequence, and retains the flexibility of a PIN or password as the user can change the fingerprint sequence or have different sequences for different purposes.
The BiometricPIN™ is stored as a digital pattern and can only be recreated and matched by the owner with knowledge of the sequence.
BiometricPIN™ provides the citizen with a unique capability to control the use and privacy of his or her biometric data as the sequence can be changed exactly as a conventional numeric PIN. This is proving of great interest to Governments implementing major civil identification programmes like ID card, border control and healthcare systems and has many applications in financial services and physical access systems.
Finally the BiometricPIN™ provides a dramatic increase in accuracy over single fingerprint systems. This is an essential requirement for large scale biometric identification systems where single fingerprint false acceptance rates of one in 15,000 are simply not good enough for systems containing millions of citizens.
The application of BiometricPIN™ is targeted at biometric markets where a high level of identification assurance is required such as immigration control and secure log-on.
