The characteristics of a biometric

Abstract

Biometric implementations have emerged as an improved solution in many spheres of life where security controls are necessary for authentication. However, not all human mannerisms and features can be used as a biometric measure. For example, the movement of an elbow will not satisfy the requirements for a useful biometric. There are a number of characteristics which are deemed important and that may be taken into account when choosing a human mannerism or feature to be used as a biometric for the purposes of identification. Some characteristics are more necessary than others. For example, the uniqueness of the fingerprint is more important than its acceptance as an identification mechanism by the public at large. One can find a number of these suggested characteristics in the literature and place them into various categories. The primary category will be its inherent nature but there may also be a technical and a procedural category. Technical considerations are where the typical technical implementation of the biometric may add further characteristics to the biometric. Finally, there may be procedural actions that will further have an influence on the biometric implementation. A categorized technical or procedural characteristic should add quality to the original inherent characteristics for any particular biometric. If a biometric feature and its further implementation (technical and/or procedural) satisfy a certain subset of these categorized characteristics which are deemed more important, then this may constitute a better choice than that which appears to satisfy a different subset of characteristics. This paper looks at the characteristics found in the literature and attempts to categorize them as inherent, technical or procedural in nature. The paper will subsequently look at some of the more popular biometric features and their inherent characteristics that have been found in the literature. Readers of this paper will be able to select appropriate biometric features based on the characteristics that are identified in this paper.