Biometrics allows a person to be identified and authenticated based on a set of recognizable and verifiable data, which are unique and specific to them.
Biometric authentication is the process of comparing data for the person’s characteristics to that person’s biometric “template” in order to determine resemblance. The reference model is first store in a database or a secure portable element like a smart card. The data stored is then compared to the person’s biometric data to be authenticated. Here it is the person’s identity which is being verified.
In this mode, the question being asked is: “Are you indeed Mr or Mrs X?“
Biometric identification consists of determining the identity of a person. The aim is to capture an item of biometric data from this person. It can be a photo of their face, a record of their voice, or an image of their fingerprint. This data is then compared to the biometric data of several other persons kept in a database.
In this mode, the question is a simple one: “Who are you?”
Biometrics: trends
Faced with document fraud and identity theft, with new threats such as terrorism or cybercrime, and faced with the understandable changes in international regulations, new technological solutions are gradually being implemented.
One of these technologies, biometrics, has quickly established itself as the most pertinent means ofidentifying and authenticating individuals in a reliable and fast way, through the use of unique biological characteristics.
Today, many applications make use of this technology.
That which in the past was reserved for sensitive applications such as the security of military sites is now developing rapidly through applications in the public domain.
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