Biometrics
Biometric technology has undergone exponential growth over the past few years. The quality of innovation has enhanced the usability of this technology across various fields for security purposes. One aspect that stands out as a critical feature that biometrics offer is the uniqueness of each individual’s features – as it depends on various aspects of biology. For instance, there currently exists an extensive array of biometric techniques that range from fingerprint-based techniques to eye feature-based, and voice-based techniques. Using these offers different advantages and disadvantages. Also, each has different vulnerabilities that it is associated with – aspects that must be fundamentally evaluated and understood. The retinal scanning technique will be addressed here.
Retinal scanning offers various advantages. First, the retina is deemed highly stable and is affected by minimal change over an individual’s lifetime. Hence, this technique is deemed the most reliable and stable biometric technique currently available (Das, 2020). Also, retinal templates are quite small, which translates to shorter system speed in identity confirmation. The unique nature of retinal data points enhances accuracy. The statistical probability of a false system identity confirmation through a retinal based recognition system is next to non-existent (Das, 2020). Finally, the retina’s position in a human’s biological structure, in the eye socket, reduces the exposure of critical data points to the harsh external environment – a problem prone to techniques such as fingerprint-based biometric modalities.
Understanding the vulnerabilities is critical. Vulnerabilities include spoofing, denial of service, and identity theft (Higgins et al., 2009). Some of the known vulnerabilities are based on feature extraction, sample quality, template creation, data storage, among others. For example, a compromise of the feature extraction algorithms could be used to stage incorrect feature calculation – which could lead to spoofing or even creation of impostor profile templates. Also, considering that biometric features are encoded into templates, the creation of different template versions from a legitimate template has been identified as a vulnerability. Under this aspect, the issue of system vendor interoperability arises. A past evaluation has presented the loophole that exists in interoperability hence creating a biometric system vulnerability that could be used for denial-of-service (DoS) attack among others – critically adverse outcomes (Higgins et al., 2009).
In conclusion, retinal scanning has various dimensions to it that affect its adoption. There exists an aspect of intrusiveness. Most individuals are uncomfortable with the various necessary procedures for retinal biometric feature collection and scanning. Also, there exist potential health risks that have been highlighted by various concerned parties. Overall, retinal scanning is a top-level biometric system that ultimately delivers quality service – primarily driven by today’s technological expertise and talent, among other critical factors.
References
Das, R. (2020). Retinal recognition: pros and cons – Keesing Platform. Retrieved 17 May 2020, from https://platform.keesingtechnologies.com/retinal-recognition-pros-and-cons/
Higgins, P., Choi, A., Chen, Y., Fondeur, J., Li, P., & Tian, J. et al. (2009). Biometric Vulnerabilities, Overview. Encyclopedia Of Biometrics, 160-168. doi: 10.1007/978-0-387-73003-5_65